''Firethorn'' is a 2004 fantasy novel by American writer

Sarah Micklem Sarah Micklem is the author of the best-selling fantasy novel, ''Firethorn (book), Firethorn''. She began writing after many years as a graphic designer and spent fourteen years working for Time Warner, designing for a children's magazine in N ...

Plot introduction

''Firethorn'', narrated by the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the same name, starts out as Luck, a 'mudfolk' orphan with unusually red hair serving an ageing noblewoman, the Dame, in a land where the division between high and lowborn is literally attributed to the gods. Too restless to live her fate as a drudge and too proud to accept the inevitable abuse that accompanies it after the Dame's death, Luck runs. A year in the mountains spent starving to death makes her desperate enough to eat the poisonous berries of the firethorn tree but instead of dying, she has a revelation that may well include a god-granted gift. Emerging from the forest, calling herself Firethorn, she tries to return to civilisation, knowing she can never quite fit. In the Upside-Down Days (ten days when the high and lowborn trade places) she meets Sire Galan, a visiting lord who takes her as his lover. When he marches off to war and suggests she tag along as his 'sheath' (a woman that follows a soldier to war and shares his bed), she jumps at the chance just to get away. But life as a camp follower waiting for war may well be something that not even Firethorn can survive...
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Plot summary

A mysterious foundling with unique red hair and strange god-given powers, Firethorn is condemned to life as a powerless servant—or so she believes, until one of King Thyrse's noblemen becomes her lover. But, as she accompanies Sire Galan to war, Firethorn discovers she may have traded one form of bondage for another. A soldier's mistress—even a high-born soldier's mistress—is despised as a "sheath," or camp follower. Also, Firethorn's nasty ex-overlord, Sire Pava, has joined the king's army, and she has made a new enemy in her lover's cousin and closest friend, the sadistic Sire Rodela. However, she and Galan share a fiery love that will surely overcome the opposition of both their personal enemies and their kingdom's enemies. Then Sire Galan makes a strange, heart-shattering wager that may not only ruin his honor, but get them both killed.
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Characters in "Firethorn"

*Firethorn - narrator,

, Sir Galan's lover, the Dame's apprentice *Sire Galan - Firethorn's lover, King Thyrse's nobleman, a Cataphract of the Clan of Crux, Sir Pava's relative *The Dame - Firethorn's caretaker and teacher *Sire Rodela - Sire Galan's armiger *Sire Pava - Sire Galan's relative *Consort Vulpeja - Sire Galan's "wager" *Divine Xyster - Head of Sire Galan's clan *First of Crux - Clan of Crux head *Ardor Wildfire - God

Major themes

Tourney A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

Firethorn ''Pyracantha'' (from Greek "fire" and "thorn", hence firethorn) is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east t ...

*War * Social classes *Death *

Fictional places Following are lists of fictional locations, as large as a universe and as small as a pub. * List of fictional bars and pubs * list of fictional castles * List of fictional city-states in literature * List of fictional countries ** List of fictiona ...

Fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

Exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

* Servants

Release details

*2004, USA, Scribner , Pub date 25 May 2004, hardcover (First edition) *2005, UK, Voyager , Pub date 4 April 2005, hardcover *2005, UK, Voyager , Pub date ? March 2005, paperback *2005, USA, Spectra Books , Pub date 28 June 2005, paperback *2006, UK, Voyager , Pub date 4 April 2006, paperback (Mass market edition

External links

Jennifer Howell "Firethorn by Sarah Micklem"''Firethorn'' on Amazon.com
which quotes the ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' review.
Official Website
2004 American novels American fantasy novels