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Juniper

Juniper by Monica Furlong, 1990.

Young Ninnoc was born the daughter of a chieftan in Cornwall. She was raised as a princess in her father’s castle and educated as young royalty. She is generally loved and cared for, but there is one person in her father’s household who doesn’t like her, her father’s sister, her aunt Meroot. Ninnoc doesn’t know why her aunt hates her, but she knows early in life she can’t trust her. Meroot isn’t even nice to her own young son. She has ambitions for her son to be a great warrior, so she forces him to start training him early and purposely keeps him hungry and in discomfort to toughen him up. Ninnoc is friends with her cousin, and she and her nurse offer him food and comfort in secret. Her cousin really wants to be a musician, but his mother would never allow such a thing.

As the only daughter of a king, it initially seems that Ninnoc’s eventual fate will be to marry and to rule after her father, along with her future husband. However, Ninnoc begins showing signs early in life that she has other talents. It begins when she playfully joins a group of men who are dowsing for water, and she is the one who finds it. As she grows older, she also discovers a talent for healing when she heals her cousin’s wounds after his battle training. She adopts an orphaned baby owl as a pet, and when she realizes that she can hear it talking to her, both she and her cousin realize that Ninoc has a talent for magic. Strangely, her cousin comments that his mother also seems to have this ability, something that makes Ninnoc uneasy.

Ninnoc’s father trusts Meroot more than he should because he is strangely fond of his older sister, but Ninnoc and his mother know that Meroot harbors deep resentment toward them. Ninnoc’s father made Meroot one of Ninnoc’s godmothers, although her mother didn’t really approve. Ninnoc’s other godmother is a strange woman called Euny, who lives in a cottage in the wild areas outside of the protection of Ninnoc’s father. Ninnoc doesn’t like Euni when she meets her because she’s raggedy and unkempt, and for some reason, she insists on calling Ninnoc by the name “Juniper.” Ninnoc’s mother says that Euny is a wise woman and that she calls Ninnoc “Juniper” because she says that is her true name. Both of Ninnoc’s parents trust Euny because she has special abilities. Ninnoc’s mother explains that there are different kinds of power in the world. Some people have power like Ninnoc’s father does, with armies of knights and political authority, but Euny has a different kind of power.

Ninnoc isn’t sure what kind of power that is, but she realizes that this is something that she wants to understand it. As a young princess, she is accustomed to be around power and has the sense that she wants to grow into a position of power, expecting that she will probably be queen one day, but at the same time, she realizes that she isn’t a warrior like her father and his knights. Euny’s kind of power might be the kind of power that Ninnoc will one day need. Still, when Ninnoc’s father tells her that she will have to go live with Euny for a year and a day and study with her, Ninnoc doesn’t really want to go. She doesn’t want to be away from her parents, her cousin, and her friends at her father’s castle, and she doesn’t really like Euny. However, the more Ninnoc begins to sense her own growing powers and to become concerned about what powers her aunt might have, the more she realizes that she needs whatever knowledge Euny has to offer her.

When Ninnoc decides that it’s time to go to Euny for training, she is surprised and a little hurt that Euni doesn’t seem too happy to receive her. Euny explains to her that the power she has is that of a Doran, someone who is very in touch with the natural world and the rhythms of life, but she doesn’t explain too much about what that means. In fact, Euny’s lack of explanations and kind treatment almost cause Ninnoc to give up on the idea of training with Euny entirely.

Euny’s small cottage in the countryside is uncomfortable. It’s often cold, and Euny doesn’t feed her much, telling her that she needs to learn what it’s like for people who are born without privilege. Ninnoc tries to bear it as long as she can, but it seems like Euny uses her more as a servant than anything else and doesn’t really explain anything to her. Euny takes her to gather herbs and plants, but she doesn’t initially explain what they are or what they’re for. Euni questions Ninnoc about her observations of the natural world, and Ninnoc’s observations of the world increase, but somehow, Euny never seems satisfied with her improvement. It seems that Ninnoc has been left to endure this treatment and dig out what training she can, but Ninnoc hardly knows just what it is that she’s even supposed to be learning.

Things change for the better then Euny takes Ninnoc with her to visit another Doran friend, Angharad, and her apprentice. Angharad and her apprentice live simply but far more comfortably than Euny and Ninnoc. Angharad has at least provided her apprentice, another girl about Ninnoc’s age, with a proper bed to sleep in, a warm house, and adequate food, which Euny has not. Ninnoc can tell that Euny is uncomfortable at how much Ninnoc prefers Angharad, and she is embarrassed when Angharad insists that she leave Ninnoc with her for the winter. It’s only then that Euny awkwardly admits to Ninnoc that she really does care about her, even though she’s never said so before.

During that winter, Ninnoc comes to some important understandings of herself and what the path of a Doran can be like through her time with Angharad and her apprentice. However, Angharad says that Euny still has some important lessons to teach her. When Ninnoc complains about Euni’s lack of teaching, Angharad encourages Ninnoc to pay attend to Euny and dig out the lessons for herself. Euny has had a hard life, since she was orphaned and homeless at a young age, and she isn’t great at explaining herself or showing her emotions, but Angharad says that she’s still a powerful Doran and that Ninnoc can learn a lot from her. By the time Ninnoc is ready to return to Euny, she has come to understand more about Euny and is more sure of her path as a Doran, and Euny, for her part, comes to realize that the way she was treating her apprentice wasn’t helpful to her. Euny helps Ninnoc to increase her learning of the healing arts, saying that this will be important to her path in life. Ninnoc begins to embrace her true identity as Juniper the Doran.

When the year and a day are over, Ninnoc returns to her parents, but she is growing up and must now make some important decisions about the course her life will take and how to use her abilities. When she first returns home, she can tell that things have been bad while she was away. The harvest has failed, which is something her father says has happened before, but it seems especially bad. In spite of that, her aunt has decided to remarry and insists on a big wedding feast. Ninnoc is suspicious of her aunt and, because of her training, comes to suspect that Meroot used an evil curse to ruin the harvest.

Having learned things about power and how people crave it or grasp it, Ninnoc begins to understand her aunt in ways she didn’t before. Meroot has always been bitter because, as a princess, she was deprived of her chance to rule when her younger brother, Ninnoc’s father, was born. For a time, she harbored a hope that Ninnoc’s father might not have children, but because he married and had Ninnoc, Meroot found her chances of ever having the throne dwindling. In some ways, Ninnoc shares the feeling that it isn’t fair for a girl to be deprived of her place in succession just because she has a brother or that the “manly” powers of fighting and war are prized more for rules than the powers of wisdom and healing. Yet, she can’t allow Meroot to harm others because of that.

Using her own Doran healing abilities, Ninnoc is able to help undo Meroot’s curse. The land becomes prosperous again, but Ninnoc’s own destiny and desire for power and position are tested when she learns that her mother is expecting another baby and that she thinks it will be a boy. Ninnoc feels some of the jealousy Meroot has always felt at being deprived of power and position, displaced by a younger brother. With Euny’s help, Ninnoc/Juniper begins to see another destiny for herself besides the one she always assumed she would have as her father’s heir, but she must overcome her feelings to protect her mother and younger brother and find her real place in the world as Juniper the Doran.

This book is a prequel to the book Wise Child, written after it but showing Wise Child’s mentor Juniper and her own coming-of-age story. The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

I remember reading this book as a teenager, after I read Wise Child, and I liked it then, although I have some different perspectives now on the story and some of the characters. I think it’s important to note that the “Dorans” in the story are sort of pseudo-proto-Wiccans, but they’re not really historically accurate. “Doran” isn’t an historical term for a witch or wise woman; it’s just invented for this particular fantasy series.

I had forgotten how much Euny neglected and deprived Juniper during her time as her student. I remember that Juniper was initially a little spoiled from being raised as a princess, but as Angharad realizes, Euny’s lessons in living as an ordinary person and getting in touch with nature go beyond what is actually good for Juniper, keeping her underfed and inadequately housed. That level of neglect isn’t really necessary for Juniper’s path as a Doran, as her time with Angharad and her apprentice make her realize. The true is that Euny is a bad cook and housekeeper and settles for just barely scraping by in her life. Even though Juniper is initially inexperienced with cooking and cleaning, she soon realizes that she’s better at it than Euny is, partly because Euny hardly tries. Angharad says that Euny is a good teacher, but objectively, she really isn’t. What she’s actually good at is getting in touch with the powers of the natural world and healing, but she’s initially bad at explaining things, and her treatment of Juniper is actually preventing her from learning.

The book doesn’t explicitly say this, but Euny seems jealous of Juniper at first for her privileged early life. No matter what Juniper does, she seems determined to mock and humiliate Juniper as the privileged princess, and she is gleeful when Juniper realizes that she’s treating her less as a student and more as a servant because she relishes the role reversal. Euny has lived a life of deprivation, and I think some part of her is still bitter about it. Juniper knows that her father has offered Euny a nice place to live in the grounds of his castle and other gifts that she has refused. She lives the way she does because she has chosen this lifestyle. Juniper’s time with Angharad causes Euny to reconsider her treatment of Juniper and what she’s really been teaching her, so when she comes to reclaim Juniper from Angharad, things change between then. It’s partly due to Juniper’s growing understanding of the path she’s choosing in life, but I think it’s also due to Euny coming to understand the real relationship between herself and Juniper and to reconcile her own feelings. I think it’s important to consider that angle of things because it helps lay the groundwork for Juniper’s later struggle with her own emotions regarding her place in the world.

The society the characters live in relies heavily on social status or power of one kind or another. Juniper’s parents love her, but when her little brother is born, Juniper immediately knows that she is out of the line of succession for her father’s position. It hurts her, and Juniper has to acknowledge and come to terms with that hurt. It’s partly the hurt of being replaced and partly the loss of power, something which matters so much in their society. However, Juniper doesn’t want to become like her aunt, twisted by greed for the one kind of power and authority she can’t have and failing to use the powers she does have in the right way. Meroot uses her powers to manipulate and hurt others, while Juniper genuinely wants to heal and protect others. While it does hurt that others no longer see her as her father’s heir and that she won’t have that type of power, as she once thought she might, Juniper comes to appreciate the power that she does have and that she can use it to create a new destiny for herself.

I still hate the part in the story where Euny makes Juniper kill the pig for food. Like Juniper, I know, intellectually, that the pig is an important food source and that’s what it’s being raised for, but it’s still a bloody business, and I hated reading about it. When Euny neglects Juniper emotionally, Juniper bonds with the pig as one of the few animals Euny keeps, making killing him even harder for her, and it just seems like a cruel manipulation from Euny to make her do it.

Posted on by TracyC

The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle

The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox, 2016.

In 1940, in London, the coming of the Blitz during World War II means that children must be sent away to escape the bombings. Kat Bateson and her siblings are told that they will be sent to Rookskill Castle.

Rob is excited about going to a castle because it might be haunted and they might learn all kinds of Medieval fighting skills, like fencing and archery. Kat says that the castle is now called Rookskill Castle Children’s Academy, so they’ll probably just be having standard lessons. Rob thinks that she’s being stodgy and boring. Their little sister, Amelie, thinks that ghosts sound exciting, but 12-year-old Kat is sure that there won’t be ghosts. The castle is owned by the children’s distant relatives, and Kat is more worried about practical things, like their father’s war work with MI-6 (he is a spy, although they are not supposed to talk about it), how she will fit in with other children at school, and packing warm clothes for Scotland.

Before the children leave for Scotland, Great Aunt Margaret gives her something for protection – her chatelaine. The chatelaine is a family heirloom that holds a pen, scissors, and thimble attached by chains to a ring. Great Aunt Margaret says that it’s magical, and she warns Kat to be careful with magic because magic always comes at a price. Kat doesn’t really believe in magic, like her younger siblings do. She is practical and enjoys numbers, puzzles, and the clockwork skills that her father has been teaching her. Still, she accepts the chatelaine from her aunt. Her aunt tells her that the pen will write by itself, the scissors will cut anything, and the thimble has the power to capture souls.

Kat and her siblings make the trip to Scotland along with Peter, the American son of people their mother works with. The Bateson children like Peter, and they become friends. However, when they reach Scotland, the station master warns them away from Rookskill Castle, talking about strange stories about the place and other children who have gone there and haven’t been seen since. The children are spooked by what he says, but they have no choice but to go with the man from the castle who comes to pick them up.

When they arrive at Rookskill Castle, they all find the place creepy. The boys find the lady who runs the castle school, Eleanor, to be pretty and charming, but the girls find her creepy. Kat thinks that there is something wrong with her, although she’s not sure what. Eleanor also wears a chatelaine, although Kat doesn’t think hers is as good as the one Aunt Margaret gave her. Aunt Margaret’s chatelaine holds practical items, but Eleanor’s chatelaine holds strange-looking charms with no practical use. Kat doesn’t know what the point of them is, but she prefers Aunt Margaret’s chatelaine.

The children are told that they will share rooms – Peter and Robby together and Kat and Amelie together – and that they must wear school uniforms, which is typical of a boarding school. However, they are also told that they will be locked in their rooms at night, which sounds alarming, and that if they hear any strange noises, they should ignore them because old castles make odd sounds. They are not allowed to wander the grounds and explore.

The children and the other students at the school soon begin to see and hear strange things around the castle. They see other, mysterious children, who are not students but who may be ghosts. The boys hear strange noises coming from a secret room that Kat thinks sound like a radio. Kat thinks that the radio sounds might indicate that there is a German spy at the school, someone who is communicating with someone outside in secret. That would make sense for wartime Britain, but it can’t explain the other, frightening things that are happening at the castle.

There is something wrong with the teachers and the cook at the school. Their memories are sometimes muddled, and they seem to be easily confused about certain things. One of their teachers keeps talking about special artifacts with magical powers that could decide the course of the war, including a magical chatelaine once owned by Vlad the Impaler.

The longer they’re at the school, the more everyone seems to be affected by the place. Kat becomes certain that the students’ cocoa is drugged every night, and Lady Eleanor isn’t what she appears to be. Really none of the adults in the castle is quite what they appear to be, but Lady Eleanor is particularly sinister. In a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that she has led an unnaturally long life because of a magical pact she made centuries ago. In order to gain the power she craves, she needs the souls of children. Logical Kat needs to grasp the idea that there is magic and take possession of her own magical potential to save herself and the others in a terrifying showdown on Halloween night.

My Reaction

I really enjoyed the combination of magic and historical fiction in this story! I’ve read other books that combine the real-life experiences of WWII child evacuees with magic and fantasy. Many people would remember that the children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe were child evacuees, but there are other books with similar themes, like Stonestruck by Helen Cresswell. There are several things that make this book different from others of its type, and I love that this book fits well with the Dark Academia aesthetic that’s been popular during the last few years.

One thing that appears in this story that I haven’t seen in similar ones is the use of mathematics and engineering skills alongside magic. Kat’s talent for mathematics and puzzles have practical uses during their adventure, and so does her budding talent for clockwork and machinery. There is both real machinery in the form of code machines and magical machinery in the story, and Amelie comments on the similarity between magic and the incredible results produced by Kat’s mathematics and by machines. I like the juxtaposition of real skills needed for invention and creation alongside the magic.

There is also a double threat in the book – the magical one and the more standard wartime threat of spies. The book’s premise of Nazis being interested in supernatural artifacts also has some basis in history. Movies like Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark are actually correct that there was an element of superstition in Nazism, and Nazis did attempt to use folklore and antiquities to create or build a connection to the past and to powerful figures. (There are many videos and documentaries on YouTube that offer more details about this. I recommend the ones from National Geographic, the Smithsonian Channel, and various universities as being the most authoritative and reliable.) The Nazi concept of history was really more of a fan fiction about their imagined past glories rather than sound and real history, and it was meant to serve as an inspiration for the empire they wanted to create. The book was correct that the darkness of war brings out magic, after a fashion. Even Allied countries, like Britain, saw a rise in spiritualism because of the war as people tried to connect to the spirits of lost loved ones, and this was also the time when Wicca began evolving into a religious movement. In fact, the founders of Wicca in Britain attempted their own magical ritual in the New Forest to ward off the Nazis. (The incident is recounted in this documentary about the life of the founder of Wicca by Professor Ronald Hutton of the University of Bristol.) In times of chaos, people are prepared to try anything and everything they can to protect what’s important, and that can include magic. The real life Wiccan rituals were not like the magic in this book, but I found it interesting that the fantasy of this story built on some real-life wartime attitudes about the supernatural.

I like books that include interesting and unusual historical details. Although this is a fantasy story, the experiences of the child evacuees do resemble the experiences of real-life evacuees. I enjoyed reading about their train journey from London to Scotland and the black-out curtains that even the trains have. Many books about child evacuees have them sent to live in private homes with people they don’t know, but in real life, there were some evacuees who were sent to boarding schools instead.

The use of a magical chatelaine is a charming touch that also shapes the nature of the story. A chaletaine is an unusual piece of jewelry that isn’t commonly worn anymore, which makes it different from stories that make use of charmed necklaces and rings. A chatelaine is a belt hook with items joined to it by chains. The items can be practical items, like the ones on Kat’s chatelaine, or charms, like the ones on Eleanor’s. Each of the items on the chatelaines in the story has a purpose.

There are also themes about power in the story. Eleanor craves power. When she was younger, before she began living this unnatural life, she craved love, but she was abused and neglected. She was powerless and fearful of the people who abused her, and her quest for power is to make herself invulnerable to that type of abuse again. However, in the process, she has sacrificed her humanity and placed herself in the position of being used by someone much more powerful. Readers and the characters can feel sorry for her because of her past life experiences, but she is beyond the point where they could save her from herself, the choices she’s made, the things she’s done to other people, and the evil force that has used her. The book is a little open-ended, with the villain behind the villain still lurking around at the end with a mission of his own to accomplish, and this story has a sequel, The Artifact Hunters.