The River Has Roots

The River Liss flows out of Arcadia, or Faerie, into the town of Thistleford. The Hawthorn family tends the magical willow trees that grow along its banks. Sisters Esther and Ysabel fulfill the family tradition of singing to the willow trees each morning.

Esther is courted by a local man named Samuel Pollard, but she is not attracted to him. A fairy named Rin hears her singing in the forest. The two are attracted to each other; they discuss gifts and exchanges. Esther courts Rin, who eventually agrees to marry her.

A jealous Pollard pushes Esther into the River Liss. He hopes to court Ysabel instead. Esther is transformed into a swan due to the magic of the river. She is rescued by Agnes Crow, a local witch. Using the power of songs, Agnes and Rin return Esther to human form. Rin reveals that Esther died from drowning, but her spirit remained connected to Arcadia. She can choose to remain with Rin forever as a woman, but can never return to Thistleford in human form. In order to protect her sister from Pollard, she devises a plan to communicate with Ysabel. She asks Rin to turn her into a harp.

Rin travels from Arcadia to Thistleford, disguised as a harpist. They arrive at a celebration of Ysabel's engagement to Pollard. In Esther's voice, the harp sings a murder ballad accusing Pollard of drowning her and demanding vengeance. Esther and Ysabel sing their secret song, which only the two of them knew; this confirms that the harp's story is true. Pollard is forced to drink from the River Liss and is turned into a willow.

Rin returns to Arcadia with the harp, and Esther regains her human shape. Years later, Ysabel and her child visit them in Arcadia.

According to Sarah Shaffi of Vogue Arabia, the book was inspired by El-Mohtar's relationship with her younger sister. The story also retells the folk song The Bonny Swans as performed by Loreena McKennitt, which El-Mohtar first heard as a teenager. In the song, one sister drowns the other; the drowned sister turns into a musical instrument to expose her murderer. The novella also draws on El-Mohtar's memories of Lebanon as a child; the author states "... if I think of children in Lebanon today, that is not the experience they’re having. They’re being displaced, they’re being terrorized, they’re being traumatized." The characters of Ysabel and Esther sing the Palestinian resistance song Tarweedeh Shmaali ("Lover’s Hymn") in one scene of the story.^[1]