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Singer
Quill Award-winner
ALA Best Book Gwenore is only 12 when she escapes from her mother, the evil witch Rhiamon, who hates her daughter and covets the mysterious magical powers symbolized by the birthmark on the girl's wrist. Gwenore travels through medieval England and Wales under secret identities for several years, learning the arts of healing, gardening, and singing. Eventually, she arrives in the Irish kingdom of Lir, where she becomes the beloved teacher and companion of the king's four children. When her mother marries the king and turns the children into swans, Mary Singer, as Gwenore is now known, must vanquish Rhiamon and save the children.
ALA Best Book Gwenore is only 12 when she escapes from her mother, the evil witch Rhiamon, who hates her daughter and covets the mysterious magical powers symbolized by the birthmark on the girl's wrist. Gwenore travels through medieval England and Wales under secret identities for several years, learning the arts of healing, gardening, and singing. Eventually, she arrives in the Irish kingdom of Lir, where she becomes the beloved teacher and companion of the king's four children. When her mother marries the king and turns the children into swans, Mary Singer, as Gwenore is now known, must vanquish Rhiamon and save the children.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2005
4 people are currently reading
319 people want to read
About the author
Jean Thesman
43 books48 followersJean Thesman was a widely read and award-winning American author known for her young adult fiction, with a career spanning over 25 years. Her novels often explored themes of family, identity, and belonging, frequently featuring heroines who find their place in the world by uncovering truths about their families and forming chosen connections. “I loved telling the story,” she once wrote, “because I really believed that families were made up of the people you wanted, not the people you were stuck with.”
Born with a passion for storytelling and literacy, she learned to read before starting school and recalled having to wait until she was six years old before being allowed her first library card. Throughout her career, she authored around 40 books, most under her own name but a few under the pseudonym T.J. Bradstreet.
Thesman published a wide range of novels for teens and middle-grade readers, including stand-alone works such as The Rain Catchers, Calling the Swan, and Cattail Moon, as well as series like The Whitney Cousins, The Birthday Girls, and The Elliott Cousins. Her lyrical style, emotional depth, and strong female characters earned her a loyal readership. Notable works like The Ornament Tree and In the House of the Queen’s Beasts remain particularly admired for their nuanced storytelling and emotional resonance.
She was a longtime resident of Washington state and an active member of The Authors Guild and the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Jean Thesman passed away in 2016 at the age of 86, leaving behind a significant legacy in young adult literature.
Born with a passion for storytelling and literacy, she learned to read before starting school and recalled having to wait until she was six years old before being allowed her first library card. Throughout her career, she authored around 40 books, most under her own name but a few under the pseudonym T.J. Bradstreet.
Thesman published a wide range of novels for teens and middle-grade readers, including stand-alone works such as The Rain Catchers, Calling the Swan, and Cattail Moon, as well as series like The Whitney Cousins, The Birthday Girls, and The Elliott Cousins. Her lyrical style, emotional depth, and strong female characters earned her a loyal readership. Notable works like The Ornament Tree and In the House of the Queen’s Beasts remain particularly admired for their nuanced storytelling and emotional resonance.
She was a longtime resident of Washington state and an active member of The Authors Guild and the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Jean Thesman passed away in 2016 at the age of 86, leaving behind a significant legacy in young adult literature.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
December 11, 2010
Terrible. This book doesn't actually "begin" it feels like it is just going and lets you watch for a while, and then drops you back off at the end. If you didn't read the blurb on the back of the book, you wouldn't know what the plot was until the last 30 pages of the book. The main character is so nebulous, and changing that you never feel a sense of connection with her, and sometimes I even forgot what her name was. I just didn't like it at all.
July 25, 2022
Well this was rather disappointing. I had high hopes for it, but it wasn't meant to be. Poor characters, and bland evil mother. We never really learn why the mother was evil, and the main character, Gwenore, was mediocre as a character. I'm giving this a 1.5 ⭐ rating. Ugh.
December 26, 2011
After escaping from the clutches of her mother, a wicked sorceress named Rhiamon, Gwenore finds herself settling into a new life at Blessingwood, a community where intelligent women teach her how to play music, tend plants, and perform surgery. But no matter how much she reinvents or remanes herself, Gwenore is still trapped by her past. For as the years pass, Rhiamon continues the search for her. It will take all of Gwenore's strength, and the magic she barely understands inside of her, to truly escape.
I first discovered Singer when it crossed my desk at the library. The cover art caught my eye, as did the historical fantasy story, which draws from the Irish folktale The Children of Lir at takes place in England/Ireland in the years following the crusades. As I began to read the book, I was immediately sucked into the story of Gwenore/Singer's flight from her mother. I found myself fascinating by the learned and free minded women of Blessingwood. Probably the most interesting sections of the novel are those which focus on their medical exploits. I found myself squirming a little at the lack of anesthetics involved in some of these surgeries, but at the same time I was impressed at how advanced some of the procedures were, given how long ago this book took place. I also enjoyed many of the side characters, especially King Harry, a snarky talking cat that reminded me of Mogget from Garth Nix's Sabriel.
Unfortunately, about halfway through the book, everything changes. The Blessingwood storyline is discarded, and a new plotline is picked up involving The Children of Lir folktale. This final half of the book is where much of the it's issues lie. The Children of Lir storyline is interesting, but feels very under developed, as if giant chunks are missing. For example. we're supposed to believe that Gwenore/Singer has become very attached to these children, but we never see it happen ourselves. Perhaps the largest problem of the book can be found in it's ending, which has many exciting moments but is ultimately an unsatisfying resolution to Gwenore/Singer's character arc.
Singer is a frustratingly uneven books. At times it feels like you're just reading pieces of two good books that were sewed together sloppily, and never given enough chance to fulfill their potential. As a result, despite the fact that I really enjoyed pieces of this novel, I honestly cannot recommend it to others as it was just too uneven.
I first discovered Singer when it crossed my desk at the library. The cover art caught my eye, as did the historical fantasy story, which draws from the Irish folktale The Children of Lir at takes place in England/Ireland in the years following the crusades. As I began to read the book, I was immediately sucked into the story of Gwenore/Singer's flight from her mother. I found myself fascinating by the learned and free minded women of Blessingwood. Probably the most interesting sections of the novel are those which focus on their medical exploits. I found myself squirming a little at the lack of anesthetics involved in some of these surgeries, but at the same time I was impressed at how advanced some of the procedures were, given how long ago this book took place. I also enjoyed many of the side characters, especially King Harry, a snarky talking cat that reminded me of Mogget from Garth Nix's Sabriel.
Unfortunately, about halfway through the book, everything changes. The Blessingwood storyline is discarded, and a new plotline is picked up involving The Children of Lir folktale. This final half of the book is where much of the it's issues lie. The Children of Lir storyline is interesting, but feels very under developed, as if giant chunks are missing. For example. we're supposed to believe that Gwenore/Singer has become very attached to these children, but we never see it happen ourselves. Perhaps the largest problem of the book can be found in it's ending, which has many exciting moments but is ultimately an unsatisfying resolution to Gwenore/Singer's character arc.
Singer is a frustratingly uneven books. At times it feels like you're just reading pieces of two good books that were sewed together sloppily, and never given enough chance to fulfill their potential. As a result, despite the fact that I really enjoyed pieces of this novel, I honestly cannot recommend it to others as it was just too uneven.
October 18, 2012
I did enjoy this book as a solid three stars until the last fifty or so pages. There were things I hadn't been enjoying, but overall I thought the main character was interesting, I was invested in the secondary characters and the plot seemed an interesting mix of fables and myths and I wanted to see how the author resolved it all.
Unfortunately, I don't think it was done well. I'll talk about the conclusion of the book at the end of this review.
Some things I didn't enjoy throughout the novel included the transitions, the overuse of secondary characters, the constant changes in settings, and the lack of proper development for Gwenore and her mother.
For the transitions, often years would pass in a single sentence. I understand that this is sometimes necessary, and often it doesn't bother me where other readers complain about it. Here, it felt so forced and so off-hand that it bothered me every time Thesman used the technique. Especially at the end , as that felt important and what follows just didn't feel as important, .
The overuse in secondary characters and the constant changes in setting kind of go together, as I was wasting my investment in the story for things that ending up not mattering. I really cared about Umma and Simon's backstory, for instance, and it didn't matter. I got invested in the convent and learning about life there and they were never mentioned again. I expected Sir Richard to be important after the beginning and he wasn't. I feel like the convent could have been cut entirely and that space should have gone to us seeing her life in her mothers' house, and more time in Lir because those were things that, ultimately, mattered. A book as short as this should not have dedicated so much time to a place that ended up not playing into the climax. In the same vein, there were so many secondary characters that I ended up not caring about any of them, as none of them stuck around for very long or could get fully explored.
Gwenore was interesting to me at the beginning, but I think the author saw in her something different than she was portraying to the reader. When Father Caddaric talks about all of Gwenore's traits, in the Middle Path, I was honestly confused. She's brave? Since when? She doesn't do one brave thing throughout the book, prior to that point. She's a healer, okay.... sort of. Suddenly at one point in the book she has learned to tie a blood vessel and pull a tooth, but we never see her learn these things, or understand why the gift is significant. She sings, but we never hear her feelings about music or what it means, except as a job where she has to hide her feelings to please the listener. Her magic throughout is very interesting and I liked the idea of this hidden destiny, but I was disappointed that these things were told to us, instead of revealed.
The mother was my biggest disappointment. We don't actually meet her until page 272 of 280. Why she did what she did, who she was, all unexplored except that she was 'evil' and 'desired power'. There were no other motivations.
Last thing: the prologue. Why tell us the plot and conclusion of your story in the first two pages and then not mix anything up? I was expecting a twist, but if you read the prologue, you've read the book and saved yourself 280 additional pages. Why authors do this to us and themselves is beyond me.
I did like Gwenore, even though she ended up being pretty uninspiring. I loved the Fair Folk and King Harry. I liked the idea of Father Caddarac, Umma and Simon, though their stories were not, in the end, explored. The plot, overall, was an interesting one and I loved the perspective chosen. It read like an old fable from an interesting hero's point of view, and I would have loved it if the author had ironed it out more.
Unfortunately, it was not worth the read.
Unfortunately, I don't think it was done well. I'll talk about the conclusion of the book at the end of this review.
Some things I didn't enjoy throughout the novel included the transitions, the overuse of secondary characters, the constant changes in settings, and the lack of proper development for Gwenore and her mother.
For the transitions, often years would pass in a single sentence. I understand that this is sometimes necessary, and often it doesn't bother me where other readers complain about it. Here, it felt so forced and so off-hand that it bothered me every time Thesman used the technique. Especially at the end , as that felt important and what follows just didn't feel as important, .
The overuse in secondary characters and the constant changes in setting kind of go together, as I was wasting my investment in the story for things that ending up not mattering. I really cared about Umma and Simon's backstory, for instance, and it didn't matter. I got invested in the convent and learning about life there and they were never mentioned again. I expected Sir Richard to be important after the beginning and he wasn't. I feel like the convent could have been cut entirely and that space should have gone to us seeing her life in her mothers' house, and more time in Lir because those were things that, ultimately, mattered. A book as short as this should not have dedicated so much time to a place that ended up not playing into the climax. In the same vein, there were so many secondary characters that I ended up not caring about any of them, as none of them stuck around for very long or could get fully explored.
Gwenore was interesting to me at the beginning, but I think the author saw in her something different than she was portraying to the reader. When Father Caddaric talks about all of Gwenore's traits, in the Middle Path, I was honestly confused. She's brave? Since when? She doesn't do one brave thing throughout the book, prior to that point. She's a healer, okay.... sort of. Suddenly at one point in the book she has learned to tie a blood vessel and pull a tooth, but we never see her learn these things, or understand why the gift is significant. She sings, but we never hear her feelings about music or what it means, except as a job where she has to hide her feelings to please the listener. Her magic throughout is very interesting and I liked the idea of this hidden destiny, but I was disappointed that these things were told to us, instead of revealed.
The mother was my biggest disappointment. We don't actually meet her until page 272 of 280. Why she did what she did, who she was, all unexplored except that she was 'evil' and 'desired power'. There were no other motivations.
Last thing: the prologue. Why tell us the plot and conclusion of your story in the first two pages and then not mix anything up? I was expecting a twist, but if you read the prologue, you've read the book and saved yourself 280 additional pages. Why authors do this to us and themselves is beyond me.
I did like Gwenore, even though she ended up being pretty uninspiring. I loved the Fair Folk and King Harry. I liked the idea of Father Caddarac, Umma and Simon, though their stories were not, in the end, explored. The plot, overall, was an interesting one and I loved the perspective chosen. It read like an old fable from an interesting hero's point of view, and I would have loved it if the author had ironed it out more.
Unfortunately, it was not worth the read.
Read
October 5, 2019It sounded promising... but ultimately it's a runaround plot (escape and hide from evil person!) in which the only real excitement happens in the last few pages.
The protagonist is strangely incurious about her alleged gifts/powers. The magic system is nebulous (never really explained or dwelt upon). The villain is 100% evil, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
On the plus side, at least there's no love triangle, and really no teen romance at all. Magical animals provide some mild humor. There is little here to disturb or offend delicate sensibilities. The cover art is nice.
VERDICT: Passing grade (2+ stars), but you may need caffeine to stay awake.
The protagonist is strangely incurious about her alleged gifts/powers. The magic system is nebulous (never really explained or dwelt upon). The villain is 100% evil, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
On the plus side, at least there's no love triangle, and really no teen romance at all. Magical animals provide some mild humor. There is little here to disturb or offend delicate sensibilities. The cover art is nice.
VERDICT: Passing grade (2+ stars), but you may need caffeine to stay awake.
October 2, 2011
Don't bother with this one. It is so full of plot that the story never gets told. It's just a long list of happenings with shreds of weak character thrown in here and there. And (spoiler) the antagonist who is so fearful and wicked and powerful ... yeah, she dies by falling down the stairs.
August 10, 2009
The black bird on this book's cover is *adorable.* It's crouching all bashful-like and its eyes are so shiny and forgiving.
(The book itself was pretty unimpressive, though. I guess it had its moments of being clever and amusing, but it was kind of hollow.)
(The book itself was pretty unimpressive, though. I guess it had its moments of being clever and amusing, but it was kind of hollow.)
May 28, 2019
Dnf on p. 60. She is fleeing evil in what has the be the most boring flight from evil that has ever been written. Things in the plot seem to have no purpose behind them, & her personality is as interesting as a white wall.
May 7, 2008
I really liked this book, up until the anticlimatic ending. It felt like the heroine had no part in the ending, but should have, because it was that type of book, ya know what I mean?
November 19, 2010
This book was so dumb.....
August 11, 2021
Really quick read as young adult fiction can be. But this was a great tale and very well written. It reminded me of the story of the swans from the Brothers Grimm. The story where some brothers were turned into swans and a girl made coats to turn them back. But the weaving of this tale is more unique. The characters well done and it moves along at a pretty quick pace but never loses the threads of the story and ties the things you learned before into a well crafted ending. Well worth finding even if you are not a young adult.
January 13, 2021
100 pages into a relatively short book and nothing of note has actually happened - they're still building up to the entire plot spilled on the back cover. I also have a sneaking suspicion the dog might die and that's a big DNF along with the main character having no personality whatsoever.
February 11, 2021
One of the worst books I've read in a long time. Singer not only fails to be an engaging and well-written story, it also completely disrespects its medieval source material.
Full review here: https://readingthroughthelists.com/si...
1 star.
Full review here: https://readingthroughthelists.com/si...
1 star.
August 31, 2019
A well written book but I got very bored.
July 20, 2021
In it for Vespers and King Harry. More faery crows please.
October 31, 2014
Gwenore's mother is a witch who wants nothing more than power. When Gwenore runs away, she has to go immediately into hiding. As she grows and gains skills and friends, she also has to keep moving as one refuge after another becomes the target of her mother's wrath. And when she finally thinks she's found a safe place, she provokes their final confrontation.
Yet another retelling of the royal kids who get turned into swans fairy tale, this time from the point of view of the daughter of the evil stepmother. Somehow I seem to have read a dozen of these within the last year or so, all by different authors using different characters in the story. Maybe that was why I found it hard to get excited about the book. It's fairly well written, though I wish the powers had been better defined, particularly Gwenore's mother's abilities. The plot was in some ways too simple, yet it still managed to leave loose ends, like the goddess in the water. She felt too much like a contrived way to offer a cure. And the death at the end almost had me laughing. It felt very pointless.
On top of that, there are two or three jabs at the Christian faith for no reason other than the author wanted to make a jab. So the main character thinks God doesn't exist---there's nothing offered in his place. There's not even much reference to faith when she's living in an abby, where she should've been hearing things she would have an opinion on, whether or not she agreed.
It's not a bad book so much as a very uninspiring one. I didn't find enough depth of character or surprises in the plot or humor or anything else that would make me want to reread this. Neutral.
Yet another retelling of the royal kids who get turned into swans fairy tale, this time from the point of view of the daughter of the evil stepmother. Somehow I seem to have read a dozen of these within the last year or so, all by different authors using different characters in the story. Maybe that was why I found it hard to get excited about the book. It's fairly well written, though I wish the powers had been better defined, particularly Gwenore's mother's abilities. The plot was in some ways too simple, yet it still managed to leave loose ends, like the goddess in the water. She felt too much like a contrived way to offer a cure. And the death at the end almost had me laughing. It felt very pointless.
On top of that, there are two or three jabs at the Christian faith for no reason other than the author wanted to make a jab. So the main character thinks God doesn't exist---there's nothing offered in his place. There's not even much reference to faith when she's living in an abby, where she should've been hearing things she would have an opinion on, whether or not she agreed.
It's not a bad book so much as a very uninspiring one. I didn't find enough depth of character or surprises in the plot or humor or anything else that would make me want to reread this. Neutral.
April 26, 2012
Gwenore’s mother is a witch – the evil and powerful Rhiamon. Her whole life has been lived in fear of her mother’s power. Until now, when she must escape. Aided by friends – and fairy folk – Gwenore is hidden in an abbey, until her health recovers, then to a community of women. Gwenore is renamed Mary, then Singer. In the community, Gwenore learns new skills – that of healing and of song. But, still she must run. This time to Ireland. However, fate – or greater powers – intervene and she is landed at Lir. There she befriends the Children of Lir – children of the king. However her mother’s evil reaches even this hidden land. Gwenore must decide which path to take. Can she save the Children of Lir?
Based on a traditional tale, which is similar to Grimm’s ‘Six Swans’.
Based on a traditional tale, which is similar to Grimm’s ‘Six Swans’.
August 4, 2011
In this expanded retelling of the Irish legend of the Children of Lir, a girl who has been enchanted from birth is rescued from her abusive mother, the witch Rhiannon, by a her maid and a priest. She is placed in a women's healing community where she is trained in the use of her powers. When the community comes under siege from her mother she is moved to the other-worldly castle of Lir where she must confront her mother's powers.
June 9, 2008
This story, based on an old fairy tale, but excellent. I would recommend it for ages 14 and up since it has some harsh moments. It is always nice to see a character who has been through so much to rise above it all. I could only wish for a little more of a love story. The female characters were especially strong.
October 31, 2010
The plot was well rendered, and the writing good. However, something fell apart in the latter half of the book. Thoroughly enjoyed the beginning two parts, but the third felt rushed. The whole focus of the book was the conflict between Mary Singer and her mother, and it was over within two paragraphs.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2011
Bwenore is the daughter of the evil witch Rhianon, who abused her as a child. Gwenore escapes with the help of friends, Father Caddaric, slave Brennan, Tom, and her white dog Striker. Gwenore finds shelter in a convent and at Blessingwood, but she lives in fear of discovery by her mother. Gwenore must follow her destiny to save four royal children and face her mother if she will ever be free.
January 5, 2009
This is a retelling of the fairy tale about the children being turned into swans. I thought the story meandered a lot - and it took a long time to get to the action. Then when the climax came, the main characters kept running back and forth between problems.
December 1, 2012
Similar to the previous novel I read, the story also took a while to connect and really start to get interesting. However, the second half of the story was very fast-paced and magical and much more interesting.
February 25, 2015
Good...until the last chapter or so, when suddenly the author seemed to rush the ending. Gone were some of the nice descriptions and characterization...It was like she'd hit her page limit with story left to tell.
December 9, 2016
I liked this book. the plot was interesting enough to keep my interested. The ending wasn't really what I expected to happen. The energy seemed to die down and take a turn I didn't think was going to happen, and I didn't necessarily like it. But overall, I did like the entire story.
August 13, 2009
I would actually rate this just under a four (maybe a 3.75 or so). The ending and a few irritating things knocked it back for me.
Eventually I will get around to reviewing it.
Eventually I will get around to reviewing it.
August 29, 2009
the ending is bad.
November 12, 2012
There were parts of this novel that I liked and parts that I didn't. I can't really say whether I liked it or not.
July 29, 2011
3.5 Stars
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews