Court of Swans by Melanie Dickerson is the first in a series of fairytale retellings, set in medieval England.
After her father’s passing, Delia’s seven brothers—the youngest only 10 years old—are taken by the king’s guards and wrongly accused of treason. Delia suspects her step-mother of accusing them, and sets out alone to try to free them. Sir Geoffrey, the guard who arrested them, is suspicious of her, but even he can see the injustice of accusing children.
Based off The Wild Swans fairy tale by the Grimm Brothers, this book is as an entertaining read. It wasn’t my favorite of Melanie Dickerson’s fairytales because not many things happened in the plot. However, I still enjoyed it and have continued the series.
Delia is a sweet, if foolish, young woman who I had the pleasure of watching grow in wisdom and strength throughout the novel. She asks God the same questions we all feel in very hard times—why does He allow the suffering and unjust treatment? I appreciated watching her struggle through the question and see that God is still faithful.
Rating: PG
I enjoyed this novel and recommend it to fans of fairytale retellings and clean historical romances.
I received a complementary copy of this book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for sharing them.
Emily Kopf 