The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi

“Hush Manor was built upon clouds.” Demelza lives in this castle as the youngest daughter of both a powerful wizard and a veritas swan. “Veritas swans were breathtakingly beautiful women” who told the truth and could compel others to as well. But they also have a tragic weakness. Once they fall in love, the owner of their heart can trap them forever. “Once you gave me your heart,” the wizard Prava told his wife, “you gave me control over you…I would burn down the heavens to make you smile. I am a monster, yes, but I will be your monster and yours alone.”

Demelza is unlike her golden-haired, white-winged sisters. Her hair is red like her father’s, and her song is not beautiful like theirs, but rather painful, though it can compel the truth from others. Escaping from Hush manor, she decides to hide in its twin, Rathe castle, where the King and Queen and crown prince live. There she finds a competition to pretend to join—winning the prince’s hand in marriage.

Poor Prince Arris is a dreamer, and he is doomed. Though he has loved every part of his life, from wind to flavors and all the senses, he knows it is time to be married, and in so doing, because of a curse, he is doomed to die soon after. For whoever wins his heart then has the power to destroy it. Then he in his second life will join the forest of trees where his many ancestors live, as one of them himself. So he is resigned, until he meets Demelza, who saves him once, and they strike a bargain.

Part Swan Lake/ Swan Princess, part Ugly Duckling, and with a hint of Wicked, The Swan’s Daughter is full of beauty and hope and glimmers of wonder. It will remind you of the fairy tales you read as a child, but grown up. This book will make you stop and think about all the beautiful things in your life, all the pleasures you’ve enjoyed and all those you have yet to, and you’ll be filled with gratitude and hope. I sincerely didn’t want the magic and beauty and poetic imagery of this book to end. The Swan’s Daughter is a beautiful reminder of what it is to fall in love and to trust another with our hearts, despite the dangers. It would make a perfect gift for fantasy fans who are romantics at heart.

Perfect for fans of:

• Swan Lake/The Swan Princess
• Fairy Tales
• Fantasy fiction
• Vivid fantasy world descriptions
• Unlikely friendships
• Romantic competitions
• Romantic drama

The Recipe:

When Araminta was ready to give birth, the cooks had prepared “butter cakes and winter berry porridge.” During the challenges, Demelza’s friend made a lemon cake. And in the menagerie, the prince and Ursula ate cloud berries, (but you can use any type of berries you prefer for this recipe).

To combine these elements, I created a recipe for Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake with Vanilla Icing.

Lemon Blueberry Butter Cake with Vanilla Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup salted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons in a separate bowl
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
• Zest of 2 lemons
• Juice of 1 large lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
• 3 eggs at room temperature 
• 1 cup of blueberries (or any berries you prefer)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tsp milk 
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Rub/drizzle oil or butter on the inside of a loaf tin, then sprinkle a little flour and pat the sides of the pan to spread it around, especially in the corners. In a mixing bowl or a stand mixer on medium speed, beat butter, zest, and sugar together till light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in sour cream and mix on medium-low till incorporated. Then add in the lemon juice and mix well. 
2. In a separate bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. To the mixing bowl, add in flour slowly, about a quarter at a time, and stir on low speed until all the flour disappears. Add the eggs, one at a time till well mixed in. You may need to stop the mixer after 2 eggs are in and stir up everything from the bottom with a spatula. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries in 2 tablespoons of flour. When all the eggs are mixed in fully, pour the floured blueberries into the mix, and fold in gently using a spatula, not the mixer. (The mixer will destroy the blueberries). Gently pour the cake batter into the loaf tin and bake for 60-65 mins or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean of raw batter, only crumbs.
3. You may need to cover the loaf with aluminum foil halfway through baking to prevent the top from getting too dark. Be careful not to burn yourself, and use caution in covering it by wearing oven mitts! If the middle is jiggly at 60 minutes, add five more minutes and then check again. Continue baking until an inserted toothpick comes out clean of raw batter, only crumbs. Cool on a rack for twenty minutes minimum before icing.
4. For the icing, stir or whisk vanilla extract with 1 tablespoon of milk and the powdered sugar. Drizzle on top of a completely cooled cake. Slice and serve. 

Discussion Questions:

1. How do we, in a way, give others some part of control over us when we give them our hearts?
2. Though Prava is sometimes cruel or wicked, in what ways is he kind to his wife, and to his daughters?
3. If you could choose, and if it were real, what would you want to spend your second life as: a tree, rock, or flower, and what kind?
4. If you could have any color and type of dress sewn for you by a skilled Vale tailor, what would you choose?
5. What would your bedroom and recreation rooms look like in Rathe Castle?
6. What talent would you choose to perform for your first task?
7. What animal would you most like to meet in the menagerie? If you could create any type of animal of your own to be kept there, what would it be?
8. Why does Arris describe a long life as one of splendor, in which you could find silver in your hair and repeat the same stories to your relations? Why are these things a blessing, and why don’t people always see them so?
9. Is there anyone in your life who expands the meaning of it, and can you do anything to express gratitude to them for it?
10. How does optimism “make the life Arris had worth living”? How can it for us too?
11. How is it a privilege for Arris and Demelza to want? How can wanting go too far?
12. Why is “regret a dangerous path to walk down”?
13. What might be in your fragrance if you had to turn yourself into one, and what vessel would you use to hold it?
14. What do you think you might have tried to turn the darkness into?

Similar Reads:

For more delightfully descriptive, immersive fantasy novels, try reading stories by Patricia A. McKillip, such as Alphabet of Thorn, Winter Rose, In the Forests of Serre, The Changeling Sea, or some of her books of short stories such as Wonders of the Invisible World or The Essential Patricia A. McKillip.

For more books with romantic competitions, try The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith, The Selection by Kiera Cass, or Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim.

For fans of fairytales and fairytale retellings, read Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber, Beastly Beauty by Jennifer Donnelly, Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, or Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier.

For romantic books of court and/or family intrigue, try A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene (which also features elements of Swan Lake), A Thousand Heartbeats by Kiera Cass, The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier, or Belladonna by Adalyn Grace.

© 2026 Amanda Lorenzo Block