Seer of Sevenwaters

ROC
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Published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a Macmillan Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd. edition.

First Roc Printing, December

Sevenwaters Family Tree by Gaye
Godfrey-Nichols of Inklings Calligraphy
Studio (
www.inklings.com.au
)
All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Marillier, Juliet.
Seer of Sevenwaters/Juliet Marillier.
p. cm.
“A Roc book.”

eISBN : 978-1-101-47513-3

1. Prophets—Fiction. 2. Mythology, Celtic—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9619.3.M26755S44 2010
823’.92—dc22 2010029391

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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To my granddaughter Isobel

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My thanks to Gaye Godfrey-Nicholls for lending me her reference books on runes and divination; to Glyn Marillier for answering my sailing queries; and to Elly Marillier for advice on medical matters, including how early medieval healers might have dealt with a serious kidney problem. The members of my writers’ group provided their usual excellent advice and encouragement. My agent, Russ Galen, is a source of ongoing support.

I consulted a number of reference books before writing the runic divination scenes in this novel. Two were especially useful:
The Secret Lore of Runes and Other Ancient Alphabets
by Nigel Pennick (Rider, 1991) and
Rune Magic
by Donald Tyson (Llewellyn, 1992).

I wrote much of
Seer of Sevenwaters
while undergoing cancer treatment in 2009. During that period I received wonderful personal support from my family and friends, and also from my readers all around the world. Readers, your encouragement helped me to meet my own challenge as bravely as my characters do theirs, and I salute you.

Observant readers will notice two characters in the Sevenwaters Family Tree who do not appear in this novel. Conri and Aisha are introduced in my novella ‘
Twixt Firelight and Water
, which appears in
Legends of Australian Fantasy
, a collection of stories by well-known fantasy writers. The anthology was published by Voyager Australia in June 2010. It was edited by Jack Dann and Jonathan Strahan.

CHARACTER LIST