I wrote to Juliet Marillier and she wrote back!

I mentioned earlier that I've been reading the books of Juliet Marillier and loving them. All of them. I still have a few left, I've been trying to savor them (the stack on the left contains the books I've read, the stack on the right the ones left to read--plus an extra one for my niece's 12th birthday). Juliet has written tomes in a short amount of time--they are published in Australia first, then the UK, and then the US. Then they are translated into different languages. I've read some fantasy--but most doesn't draw me in, except maybe Mists of Avalon. I think what I like about Juliet's books is that they are based simultaneously on history and fairytales. Some are more obvious fairytales than others, some are more concrete history than others, and then there is always a bit of magic mixed in. What I like about fairytales goes deeper than the happy ending, neatly resolved tale where evil gets its due and good persists. It is the journey of self-discovery, the battle of good/evil within, the magic of believing. Bruno Bettleheim says it so much better than I'll ever be able to.
Juliet ranks right up there with Jane Austen, JK Rowling, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in my book of authors who keep me coming back for more, spark my imagination, or make me laugh.
So I wrote to Juliet because I found her website and noticed the fan art part. I sent her The Six Swans to post--and she did! And she wrote back--a very personable, friendly note. She mentioned that she used to do counted-cross stitch--I just knew she had to have a textiles connection--with the way she writes about textiles.