Rosie's Riveters: Kailana & Ishbelle Brunel

Rosie's Riveters is a weekly posting written by Booklust readers about
riveting females in literature. Many readers have strong reactions to
the women in the books they read- either very positive or very
negative. These are the characters we find riveting, for good reasons
or bad ones, and they form the population of Rosie's Riveters. Through
this weekly post, we can discuss females we love to hate, or love to
love. And maybe, just maybe - we can determine why we react so strongly
to them.

If you are interested in participating, please comment on this post or e-mail me and I'll add you to the line-up! I don't have plans to stop any time soon, so feel free to add your name to the list, as many times as you'd like! The more, the merrier!

This week's post is by Kailana, who writes over at The Written World. Kailana is one of my oldest book club/book blogger friends! We met at the Historical Fiction forum (where I also met Marg). She reads mainly historical fiction and fantasy novels (the basis of our friendship comes clear!) and does a lot of other fun things on her blog, such as the Friday Friends series, Music Mondays and other things. Her blog is great and has recently been nominated for three BBAW awards- that speaks for itself :-)

So, without further ado- here's Kailana!

Who is your Riveter?
Ishbel Brunelle

What book does she feature in?

The Dark Glass Mountain Trilogy by Sara Douglass (The Serpent Bride and The Twisted Citadel)

Do you love her or hate her?

Both. During the course of getting to Ishbel, she has a lot going on. Sometimes you really love her, but other times you just can't help hating her...

Describe her personality- how would you describe her to a friend?

Ishbel is confused. She was sworn to serve the Serpent cult, but that did not go as she thought it was going to go. Instead, she is chosen to enter into a marriage that she is not sure about. She has a very strong personality, which is something that is played out again and again. She is not someone that you will soon forget about, that's for sure. She has been through a lot in her life, but she is brave and though she doesn't always know what she wants, she is an interesting character to read about.

Can you compare her to a celebrity?

um, not really. I am not much on celebrity-related things, I am afraid.

What makes her riveting?
She is a character that I have not forgotten. I can remember the opening pages of The Serpent Bride as we were just getting to know her. Her family was all deceased and she was trapped in with them alone because the town feared she would be carrying the disease as well. It was a scary time for someone so young, but she rose above it. Ishbel is not like women of her class and time were expected to be. She was quite capable of what was put in front of her and accomplished impressive feats.

What do you most admire/despise about her?

I think I pretty much answered this. I admired that she had a lot of bad luck in her young life, but she was able to rise above it. I look forward to the last book in the trilogy and seeing the person that she has become.

Would you recommend reading the book in which the Riveter features?

Yes, especially now that there is a release date for the third book and you don't have to wait as long as I did!

Do you have a quote by your Riveter that you'd like to share?

Nothing comes to mind... It's been a while since I read the two books, unfortunately.