Doucette, the 16-year-old daughter of a count, longs to be a swan maiden like her two older sisters, Azelais and Cecilia, who can perform sorcery, but for the past six years her parents have led her to believe that she was born without a “swan skin.” While her sisters spend each summer with Tante Mahalt perfecting their magic, Doucette undergoes year-round tutelage from their domineering mother in running a noble household-until she discovers the swan skin her mother has hidden from her since birth. On another note I was very interested in Doucette’s relationship with her sisters since that occupies a good deal of the book and I would love to see more of Cecilia and what she goes on to do.Inspired by French fairy tales, Tomlinson's first novel takes the motif of the “swan maiden”- a beautiful young woman who can assume the form of a swan-and embroiders it into an elaborate romantic fantasy. Somebody might come at me and say “it’s not that deep!” which, true, this book isn’t a thesis or a feminist manifesto but a woman’s freedom from physical, sexual, and class bonds which are all connected to each other is the primary theme of the story.
Gaining her swan skin gives her the freedom to do what she will - within certain class-based parameters - sexually, the loss of the skin forces her back within her old bounds, and the rassemblement gives Doucette innate power that is no longer tied to a physical object. Doucette does have contact with many men at the beginning of the novel but they are servants for the most part as she has interacted little with the court. Many cultures have devised ways of keeping girls and women “pure” and only sexually available to specific men in specific situations which often includes physical separation of the sexes as well as psychological conditioning.
I was particularly interested in how the swan skin represents - both metaphorically and in many ways physically - sexual freedom in particular since sexual/reproductive freedom is so deeply tied into women’s agency and freedom within society. What does freedom mean? What tools does an oppressed person need to become free? I liked that there were comparisons provided showing both Doucette’s privileges as a noblewoman with the particular problems posed by her position and just good ole misogyny. I liked the exploration of freedom, specifically freedom for women in a strongly patriarchal society. I was often frustrated with Doucette due to her gentleness but that’s because of a difference in personality. *some spoilers!* I enjoy retellings of lesser-known tales and this was a pretty good one.
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