After the death of their mother and other financial hardships, Rowan, her two sisters, and father move to the mountains where winter rules harsh and deep. Old folklore of the Huntress, a cold and terrifying warrior woman, are unknown to the family, so when Rowan's father returns from a hunting trip with a white rose for his daughter, how could he have known the rule he broke or the cost he would have to pay? The Huntress takes Rowan away from the remote cabin, her sisters, and the young man who she was arranged to marry and brings her, via bear ride, to the highest mountain top, where the Huntress' castle hides. At first, Rowan is homesick and scared of what might become of her, but she adjusts and then learns to thrive in the new environment. Unfortunately, the curse that had once plagued the Huntress is wading and Rowan has to fight for another season with the woman who she has come to love.
Fairy tales have lasted through the ages because of their humanity, but most do not include women who love women. Thorn gives people like me a story to relate to. The characters are flesh and blood and Rowan's emotional journeys believable. The magic is the unexplained sort found in age old stories, not the kind at Hogwarts, but it fits much better than anything that would carry logic to a modern reader. Most people don't understand us anyway, so it makes sense that our fairy tales would also stand apart from normative society's reality. The connection between Rowan and the Huntress felt deep and authentic to me with appropriate amounts of trepidation, attraction, and resentful compassion as Rowan began to see her as more than a captor. What really stood out to me was Rowan's thoughts on freedom. Apart from society, technically she was a prisoner, but in reality she could finally be free to live a life of freedom and love. I've wished so many times that I could run away to a place where I could love who I want without anybody being hurt. This story provided a little bit of escape to a world I wish were mine.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of captivity, curses, and emotional turmoil.
Has Romance?
Yes, the romance between Rowan and the Huntress is a central element, characterized by emotional depth and growth.
From The Publisher:
On a cold day deep in the heart of winter, Rowan's father returns from an ill-fated hunting trip bearing a single, white rose. The rose is followed by the Huntress, a figure out of legend. Tall, cruel, and achingly beautiful, she brings Rowan back with her to a mountain fastness populated solely by the creatures of the hunt. Rowan, who once scorned the villagers for their superstitions, now finds herself at the heart of a curse with roots as deep as the mountains, ruled by an old magic that is as insidious as the touch of the winter rose. Torn between her family loyalties, her guilty relief at escaping her betrothal to the charming but arrogant Avery Lockland, and her complicated feelings for the Huntress, Rowan must find a way to break the curse before it destroys everything she loves. There is only one problem-if she can find a way to lift the curse, she will have to return to the life she left behind. And the only thing more unbearable than endless winter is facing a lifetime of springs without the Huntress.
Thorn was named to the American Library Association's 2020 Over the Rainbow Fiction Longlist.
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