It is loosely based on the legend of the Children of Lir and "The Six Swans" (a story that has many versions, including one by the Brothers Grimm).

A girl (Sorcha) must sew six shirts from a painful nettle plant in order to save her brothers from a witch's enchantment, remaining completely mute until the task is finished.

Sorcha, the youngest child of Irish Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, loses her mother at childbirth, and is raised almost entirely by her six older brothers.

Sorcha learns that if she can spin six shirts from the painful starwort, remaining absolutely silent until the last one is completed, she can free her brothers from Oonagh's spell.

Her brothers are able to visit her twice a year as humans as she labors on her task to make shirts out of starwort, a needle-like plant whose touch is poison and disfigures the hands.

Padriac heals her while three of her other brothers, (including formerly peaceful Finbar), go out and kill her rapists with the help of the Fair Folk.

He gives her a ring and then leaves to search for Simon and find out the truth about Lord Richard's involvement in his brother's capture.

They refuse to allow her to be alone with him until Sorcha insists on it, and she is the one to tell Red good-bye, believing he will forget her once she is gone and still under the delusion that he only loves her because of the Fair Folk's intervention.

This causes her much pain until one day, he shows up and declares that he has abdicated his rule and wants to stay with her, and Sorcha kisses him so passionately that she makes Liam, her eldest brother, blush.

Sister to Liam, Diarmid, twins Cormack and Conor, Finbar and Padriac and daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters.

Sorcha has black hair and wide green eyes and bares a strong resemblance to their mother, who died birthing her.

Throughout the novel, it is her task to break her brothers' spell, and she can only do so if she sews a shirt for each of them out of a brittle, needle-like plant that causes her hands to wrinkle and deform like that of an old woman's.

While hiding in the forest, she is brutally raped, which drives a wedge between herself and Red when they first meet and as they slowly fall in love.

She loves her brothers dearly and has a special bond with the Fair Folk, as well as the ability to hear their voices and communicate with the Lady of the Forest and the Bright One.

When she realizes that they, in fact, did no such thing, she is heartbroken, but he abdicates his rule, leaves Briton, and joins her in Sevenwaters and she is overjoyed again.

He was once a carefree, handsome, and happy man who loved his wife dearly, but then she died and he threw himself into his role as the Lord of Sevenwaters, becoming proud and stern.

He angrily snaps against Finbar's insistence that the Britons are human too, and treats Sorcha as if she does not exist, though it is later revealed that he loves her very much.

Lady Oonagh effectively takes over his mind, but when his children disappear he is so shaken by loss that he regains some of his freedom.

He has twin dimples that many find charming, and is the most bespelled of all the brothers by Lady Oonagh until her true nature is revealed.

Though he catches Sorcha "committing adultery", (she was really just hugging her brother), he believes in her innocence, saying that no one who looked at Red the way she did could turn unfaithful.

One of Red's closest friend and advisers, he is more withdrawn and quieter than Ben, but just as protective of Sorcha, especially after she saves his wife's life.

Master of Arms at Sevenwaters, he served Lord Colum for fourteen years, training all Sorcha's brothers and watching over the army.

Christian Hermit who lives near Sevenwaters, teaches languages, reading and writing to some of Lord Colum's children.

Oonagh, wanting her son by Colum to inherit Sevenwaters, attacks Sorcha and her brothers and turns the boys into swans.

In Child of the Prophecy it is revealed that Oonagh is a fallen member of the Fair Folk with significant magical powers.

Jackie Cassada of the Library Journal said, "The author's keen understanding of Celtic paganism and early Irish Christianity adds texture to a rich and vibrant novel that belongs in most fantasy collections.

"[1] Publishers Weekly said, "Though the novel features a stereotypically happy ending and leans more toward romance than fantasy, Marillier is a fine folklorist and a gifted narrator who has created a wholly appealing and powerful character in this daughter of the forest.