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* BackFromTheDead: A legend springs up that Sophia's ghost is terrorizing the palace.
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* BackFromTheDead: A legend springs up that Sophia's ghost is terrorizing the palace. [[spoiler:The narration implies it to be true.]]
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* AdultFear: The king and queen watch their oldest, favourite daughter die in horrible pain on her wedding night. Sophia is only the first loss.
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* OutlivingOnesOffspring: The king and queen watch their oldest, favourite daughter die in horrible pain on her wedding night. Sophia is only the first loss.
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* CleanPrettyChildbirth: [[spoiler: When Isabel births her last child, it almost slides out of her without effort because her body has done this so many times.]]
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* InstantBirthJustAddWater: [[spoiler: When Isabel births her last child, it almost slides out of her without effort because her body has done this so many times.]]
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* BookDumb: Ava is illiterate.
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* BookDumb: Ava is illiterate. Ironically, [[OppositesAttract her liaison with Arthur Grammaticus, the royal scribe, develops into a minor plot point,]] [[spoiler:though Midi is the one he truly loves.]]
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* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Isabel, and Midi. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one. [[spoiler: Ava's]] is anything but convenient, as it results in her effective banishment from her home town
to:
* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Isabel, and Midi. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one. [[spoiler: Ava's]] is anything but convenient, as it results in her effective banishment from her home townhometown.
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* EasilyForgiven: The queen would've forgiven for Elinor anything at all.
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* EasilyForgiven: The queen would've forgiven for Elinor for anything at all.
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* FanDisservice: Pretty much all of the sex. Also Nicolas has jewels sewed into his penis.
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* FanDisservice: Pretty much all of the sex. Also Also, Nicolas has jewels sewed into his penis.
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* MyBelovedSmother: Isabel is completely devoted to her children and cares for them all herself. She's a terrible caregiver, and this backfires horribly.
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* MyBelovedSmother: Isabel is completely devoted to her children and cares for them all herself. She's Unfortunately for all involved, she's a terrible caregiver, and this backfires horribly.
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* SanitySlippage: A consequence of syphilis. The queen has probably been losing her mind for years, and she only appears to get worse over the story.
to:
* SanitySlippage: A consequence of syphilis. The queen has probably been losing her mind for years, and she only appears to get worse over the story. [[spoiler: She regains lucidity long enough to work out a bittersweet arrangement with Ava and Midi: Among other things, Ava's newborn half-brother will replace Isabel's stillborn son.]]
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misuse — despite the name, congenital syphilis is acquired from bacteria in utero, and is not genetic nor heritable.
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* InTheBlood: Its implied that the children contracted congenital syphilis from Isabel.
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* DeadlyDecadentCourt: When the royal family is so vulnerable, power struggles are a given.
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* DeadlyDecadentCourt: DecadentCourt: When the royal family is so vulnerable, power struggles are a given.
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Trope is being cut.
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* AllMenAreRapists: There are some aversions like Jacob Lille, but for the most part the men in this story force themselves on the women.
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* AllMenAreRapists: AllMenArePerverts: There are some aversions like Jacob Lille, but for the most part the men in this story force themselves on the women.
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No longer a trope.
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* YourCheatingHeart: The people are amazed at how loyal Christian is to his queen. But Christian ends up falling in love with Nicolas.
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Black Best Friend has been renamed to Token Black Friend, it's unclear whether this is actually an example of that trope.
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* BlackBestFriend: From the description of the book, one might expect Midi to play this role to Ava. They're at odds with each other for most of the story.
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''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' is the young adult debut novel of Susann Cokal. It is, in a sentence, a [[FairyTale fairy tale]] about [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed syphilis]]. The story follows two women, Ava Bingen, a seamstess in the queen's household who is demoted after accidentally pricking the queen with a needle during an emergency gown repair, and Midi Sorte, a nursemaid from a faraway land (likely somewhere in Africa, though no one, least of all Midi knows) who never speaks due the mutilation of her tongue. The narrative is interspersed with chapters told from the point of view of several characters, as well as including several original [[NestedStory fairytales]] throughout the text.
to:
''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' is the young adult debut novel of Susann Cokal. It is, in a sentence, a [[FairyTale fairy tale]] about [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed syphilis]]. The story follows two women, Ava Bingen, a seamstess in the queen's household who is demoted after accidentally pricking the queen with a needle during an emergency gown repair, and Midi Sorte, a nursemaid from a faraway land (likely somewhere in Africa, though no one, least of all Midi knows) who never speaks due to the mutilation of her tongue. The narrative is interspersed with chapters told from the point of view of several characters, as well as including several original [[NestedStory fairytales]] throughout the text.
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Woman In White is no longer a trope
* EtherealWhiteDress: When Isabel is in mourning, she wears white. She's no longer slim and pretty enough to be ethereal, but she's still mad and it leaves an impression.
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* WomanInWhite: When Isabel is in mourning, she wears white. She's no longer slim and pretty enough to be ethereal, but she's still mad and it leaves an impression.
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* AdultFear: The king and queen watch their oldest, favorite daughter die in horrible pain on her wedding night. Sophia is only the first loss.
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* AdultFear: The king and queen watch their oldest, favorite favourite daughter die in horrible pain on her wedding night. Sophia is only the first loss.
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* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Midi, and Isabel. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one. [[spoiler: Ava's]] is anything but convenient, as it results in her effective banishment from her home town
to:
* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Midi, Isabel, and Isabel.Midi. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one. [[spoiler: Ava's]] is anything but convenient, as it results in her effective banishment from her home town
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* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After all the horror of their lives, Midi and Ava escape court, raise Midi's daughter together, and become wise women.]]
* EasilyForgiven: The queen would forgiven Elinor anything at all.
* EasilyForgiven: The queen would forgiven Elinor anything at all.
to:
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After all the horror of their lives, Midi and Ava escape court, raise Midi's daughter together, and become wise women. It's also suggested that Jacob Lille comes and finds Ava.]]
* EasilyForgiven: The queenwould would've forgiven for Elinor anything at all.
* EasilyForgiven: The queen
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* MassiveNumberedSiblings: There are seven royal children at the beginning of the story, and Isabel gets pregnant again after Sophia dies. The number of children falls over the course of the story.
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* MassiveNumberedSiblings: There are seven royal children at the beginning of the story, and Isabel gets pregnant again after Sophia dies. The number of children falls over the course of the story.story until there are only two left.
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* StarCrossedLovers: Ava and Jacob. Jacob fled the country (presumably to Denmark) because it wasn't safe for him to be a Protestant.
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* StarCrossedLovers: Ava and Jacob. Jacob fled the country (presumably to Denmark) because it wasn't safe for him to be a Protestant. [[spoiler: However, the epilogue suggests that he finds Ava on her island and they have a happy ending.]]
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* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler: Ava brings Isabel her newborn baby brother to replace her own dead, deformed child.]]
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* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler: Ava brings Isabel her newborn baby brother step-brother to replace her own dead, deformed child.]]
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* RapeAndRevenge: Nicolas brutally rapes Midi. [[spoiler:When she finds him heavily wounded by Beatte, she simultaneously suffocates and poisons him, both to protect her royal charges and to pay him back for his abuse.]]
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** Nicholas Bullen believes he has this, due to a rather interesting (and painful-sounding) Eastern preventative.
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** Nicholas Nicolas Bullen believes he has this, due to a rather interesting (and painful-sounding) Eastern preventative.
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** Nicholas Bullen believes he has this, due to a rather interesting (and painful-sounding) Eastern preventative.
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* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Midi, and Isabel. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one.
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* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Midi, and Isabel. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one. [[spoiler: Ava's]] is anything but convenient, as it results in her effective banishment from her home town
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* HideYourPregnancy: Ava got pregnant by Jacob and tried to keep it secret. [[ConvenientMiscarriage It failed]].
** Midi gets pregnant and tries to keep it from everyone. This too failed eventually.
** Midi gets pregnant and tries to keep it from everyone. This too failed eventually.
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* MySecretPregnancy: Ava got pregnant by Jacob and tried to keep it secret. [[ConvenientMiscarriage It failed]].
** Midi gets pregnant and tries to keep it from everyone. This too failed eventually.
** Midi gets pregnant and tries to keep it from everyone. This too failed eventually.
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* {{Confessional}}: Towards the end of the book, Ava breaks down and spills out everything he has done. Isabel remarks that she needs absolution, but Ava does not want to see a priest. [[spoiler: So Isabel forgives Ava herself.]]
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* {{Confessional}}: Towards the end of the book, Ava breaks down and spills out everything he she has done. Isabel remarks that she needs absolution, but Ava does not want to see a priest. [[spoiler: So Isabel forgives Ava herself.]]
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* NobodyPoops: King Christian appears to be suffering from Crohn's disease. He spends a good chunk of the book defecating or thinking about it.
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''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' is the debut novel of Susann Cokal. It is, in a sentence, a [[FairyTale fairy tale]] about [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed syphilis]]. The story follows two women, Ava Bingen, a seamstess in the queen's household who is demoted after accidentally pricking the queen with a needle during an emergency gown repair, and Midi Sorte, a nursemaid from a faraway land (likely somewhere in Africa, though no one, least of all Midi knows) who never speaks due the mutilation of her tongue. The narrative is interspersed with chapters told from the point of view of several characters, as well as including several original [[NestedStory fairytales]] throughout the text.
to:
''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' is the young adult debut novel of Susann Cokal. It is, in a sentence, a [[FairyTale fairy tale]] about [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed syphilis]]. The story follows two women, Ava Bingen, a seamstess in the queen's household who is demoted after accidentally pricking the queen with a needle during an emergency gown repair, and Midi Sorte, a nursemaid from a faraway land (likely somewhere in Africa, though no one, least of all Midi knows) who never speaks due the mutilation of her tongue. The narrative is interspersed with chapters told from the point of view of several characters, as well as including several original [[NestedStory fairytales]] throughout the text.
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* STDImmunity: ''*Nope.*''
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* STDImmunity: ''*Nope.*'''''''Nope.'''''
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[[quoteright:314:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingdomoflittlewounds_8847.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:314:History is what we believe. History itself is a fairy tale.]]
->''"It is while I stitch the Queen's gown, on the night her eldest daughter is to die, that I first sense an uneasy power."''
''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' is the debut novel of Susann Cokal. It is, in a sentence, a [[FairyTale fairy tale]] about [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed syphilis]]. The story follows two women, Ava Bingen, a seamstess in the queen's household who is demoted after accidentally pricking the queen with a needle during an emergency gown repair, and Midi Sorte, a nursemaid from a faraway land (likely somewhere in Africa, though no one, least of all Midi knows) who never speaks due the mutilation of her tongue. The narrative is interspersed with chapters told from the point of view of several characters, as well as including several original [[NestedStory fairytales]] throughout the text.
Scandinavia, 1572. In the city of [[FictionalCountry Skyggehavn]] the eldest daughter of King Christian V and Queen Isabel is about [[ArrangedMarriage to be married]] to a Swedish duke. The marriage is not a popular one, politically because the Catholic kingdom is wary of uniting with Protestant Sweden, and personally because Princess Sophia is only twelve years old, sickly, and has only barely passed her menarche. The alliance is too valuable to lose, though, so the princess will be wed. However as she and her husband are about to consummate the marriage, Sophia mysteriously dies. The king, certain that someone must be to blame, begins looking for poisoners in his court. The queen, already not right in the head, begins to slip further over the edge. And all the while, the ''[[VictorianNovelDisease Morbus Lunediernus]]'', the illness that plagues the royal children, makes them weaker and weaker.
Everyone is frightened for the future and scrambling to preserve their place in it by whatever means they have. For some characters, this means just staying alive, or keeping those children alive. For the king and queen, it means [[SuccessionCrisis producing more heirs]]. For Ava and Midi, it means a life of spying and sexual abuse.
And everyone, regardless of who they are, or what their station, lives in fear of the continued spread of the [[ThePlague Italian Fire]].
----
!!''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' provides examples of:
* AdultFear: The king and queen watch their oldest, favorite daughter die in horrible pain on her wedding night. Sophia is only the first loss.
* AllMenAreRapists: There are some aversions like Jacob Lille, but for the most part the men in this story force themselves on the women.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: In actions rather than words. [[spoiler: Christian finally kisses Nicolas, and he knows how bad it will be if they're caught.]]
* AristocratsAreEvil: Played with. Some are evil, like Nicolas, some are clueless of the harm they do, like the queen. But in essence, if you're common like Ava and Midi are, aristocrats can ruin your entire life on a whim and think nothing of it.
* ArrangedMarriage: Princess Sophia is married to a Swedish duke at the beginning of the book. She's barely twelve at the time, but they need the marriage desperately.
* BabyFactory: Isabel's role at court. Notably right after Sophia dies, the king comes to her bed to create another child as though Sophia were just a part to replace and Isabel a mechanism to make that replacement.
* BackFromTheDead: A legend springs up that Sophia's ghost is terrorizing the palace.
* BlackBestFriend: From the description of the book, one might expect Midi to play this role to Ava. They're at odds with each other for most of the story.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Even our heroines aren't above some gray behavior.
* BlackMagic: People believe the royal family is cursed.
** Midi is not a witch, but many believe she is because she is so strange.
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: Not Sophia's wedding dress, but the nightdress she dies in on her wedding night gets very messy.
* BookDumb: Ava is illiterate.
* BreakTheHaughty: Countess Elinor is accused of and arrested for poisoning the royal children, after ruining Midi's and Ava's lives.
* ClosetKey: Nicolas makes Christian realize some things about himself.
* {{Confessional}}: Towards the end of the book, Ava breaks down and spills out everything he has done. Isabel remarks that she needs absolution, but Ava does not want to see a priest. [[spoiler: So Isabel forgives Ava herself.]]
* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Midi, and Isabel. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one.
* DarkestAfrica: Midi's origins are given this treatment by people at court.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: When the royal family is so vulnerable, power struggles are a given.
* DefiledForever: Certainly Ava seems to think she is.
* DepravedBisexual: Nicolas Bullen, who if he isn't attracted to men, he's willing to act like it if it gets him a step up the ladder.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After all the horror of their lives, Midi and Ava escape court, raise Midi's daughter together, and become wise women.]]
* EasilyForgiven: The queen would forgiven Elinor anything at all.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The reader's introduction to Isabel involves throwing a horrible fit and nearly eating a pearl.
* EthnicMagician: Midi isn't actually a witch, but everyone--including Ava--treats her like she is.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Unfortunately, most of it is awful. Also, syphilis is everywhere.
* FanDisservice: Pretty much all of the sex. Also Nicolas has jewels sewed into his penis.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Isabel is widely known to be mad, and serving her is something of a nightmare.
* GoodParents: Ava's father and stepmother, especially for the time period. They continue to support Ava even after she nearly ruined the family by miscarrying in public.
* HappyMarriageCharade: Christian and Isabel. They don't hate each other, but their marriage is not the miracle their daughter Sophia thinks it is.
* HideYourPregnancy: Ava got pregnant by Jacob and tried to keep it secret. [[ConvenientMiscarriage It failed]].
** Midi gets pregnant and tries to keep it from everyone. This too failed eventually.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Magnus, Duke of Östergötland. He marries Sophia and quickly leaves after she dies.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Nicolas looks like he's going to get everything he wants. He's set himself up as regent to the child queen Beatte, he's groomed her to both like him and think of herself as a queen, and then he's all set to marry her. She stabs him in the leg with a knife he gave her to protect her virtue, and the wound ultimately kills him.]]
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Both the king and queen place complete faith in people they really shouldn't trust.
* InTheBlood: Its implied that the children contracted congenital syphilis from Isabel.
* InstantBirthJustAddWater: [[spoiler: When Isabel births her last child, it almost slides out of her without effort because her body has done this so many times.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Ava and Midi are both fertile women, and they really wish they weren't.
* LetMeTellYouAStory: The whole story is apparently being told to a group of children.
* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: More common than not. Sex is often something the female characters need to endure, not enjoy. Sophia in particular does her best to knock herself out with wine before consummating her marriage.
* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: The king is in love with Nicolas. [[spoiler: His daughter follows suit.]]
* LoveTriangle: Midi, Arthur, and Ava. Ultimately subverted. [[spoiler: Ava doesn't really want Arthur and Arthur just wants a socially acceptable wife, even though he truly loves Midi.]]
* MadwomanInTheAttic: After a while, Isabel is locked away from court.
* ManipulativeBastard: Nicolas Bullen, who quietly manipulates the king into doing his bidding.
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: There are seven royal children at the beginning of the story, and Isabel gets pregnant again after Sophia dies. The number of children falls over the course of the story.
** Ava originally had many siblings, but the family was reduced to her and her father due to plague.
* MissingMom: Ava's mother died when she was six.
* MyBelovedSmother: Isabel is completely devoted to her children and cares for them all herself. She's a terrible caregiver, and this backfires horribly.
* NatureAdoresAVirgin: The nature of royal marriages. Isabel insists that she came to Christian a virgin. Sophia was also a virgin on her wedding night.
** Jacob didn't penetrate Ava because while he wanted to be intimate before their wedding, he still wanted to marry a virgin.
* NestedStory: Throughout the narrative are several short original fairy tales.
* NoAccountingForTaste: People think this is how Christian and Isabel's marriage works. Subverted when Christian is trying to hide the fact that he's interested in men.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Periods are even used as a form of characterization as all the women in the nursery cycle at the same time but for the stubborn and contrary Midi.
* ThePlague: Syphilis, known commonly as the Italian Fire, is devastating Europe.
** The royal family is all ill, an affliction everyone is calling ''Morbus Lunediernus''. It's also syphilis, though the queen refuses to accept this.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Ava believes this is what happened when she reports on Countess Elinor.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Nicolas lays the charge for the illness in the royal family on the queen.
* RoyalBlood: Important for politics. [[spoiler: Ultimately abandoned, since the Lunedies are too ill a family to continue; Isabel takes another woman's baby as her own.]]
* RoyallyScrewedUp: Played with. Everything that would normally be attributed to RoyalInbreeding or a FamilyCurse is actually caused by an epidemic.
* SanitySlippage: A consequence of syphilis. The queen has probably been losing her mind for years, and she only appears to get worse over the story.
* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler: Isabel screams to pretend she is in labor after she has already given birth. Further played with in that she didn't scream when she ''was'' in labor.]]
* SexEqualsLove: Completely averted. More often than not, sex is something for women to endure and men to dominate women with.
* SnipeHunt: The royal children are just sick, okay.
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Subverted everywhere. [[spoiler: Ava is left pregnant after Jacob runs away, but she miscarries. Isabel is still pregnant when Christian dies, but she also miscarries. Midi manages to carry her baby to term, but she's not sure who the father is and the afterword would suggest she's not so attached to Arthur after all.]]
* StarCrossedLovers: Ava and Jacob. Jacob fled the country (presumably to Denmark) because it wasn't safe for him to be a Protestant.
* STDImmunity: ''*Nope.*''
* SuccessionCrisis: There is only one male heir, and like his sisters, he's sickly. It's so bad that people are upset the king ''didn't'' have a mistress. [[spoiler: The prince dies midway through the book, making the situation worse.]]
* SurprisePregnancy: Ava realized she was pregnant after Jacob had already left her. She insists that Jacob ejaculated on her stomach.
* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler: Ava brings Isabel her newborn baby brother to replace her own dead, deformed child.]]
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Nicolas Bullen, which is part of why the king falls for him.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: When Sophia dies, the kingdom acts like this is the case, going so far as to call her "The Perished Lily."
* UglyGuyHotWife: Once upon a time, this was Christian and Isabel. Isabel has lost her looks since then, but Christian always looked a bit like a sheep.
* {{Whodunnit}}: This is a common question in the story, for a variety of situations. Unfortunately, the question they should be asking is "what" rather than "who" but with everyone uneasy, it just feels better to have people to blame.
* WickedStepmother: Subverted, given this is a fairy tale. Ava gets on well with Sabine.
* WomanInWhite: When Isabel is in mourning, she wears white. She's no longer slim and pretty enough to be ethereal, but she's still mad and it leaves an impression.
* WouldHitAGirl: Ava and Midi are often on the receiving end of abuse.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Everyone knows their fairy tales, and indeed the story is narrated like a fairy tale. Unfortunately for everyone, it isn't one.
* YesMan: Agreeing with Isabel makes life in her service simpler. Not easier, just simpler.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: True for the three main women in the story. Ava lost her family at a young age, and more than that had to be sent away after a miscarriage. Midi doesn't know where home even is for her. And Isabel, as is the nature of political marriage, will never see France again.
* YourCheatingHeart: The people are amazed at how loyal Christian is to his queen. But Christian ends up falling in love with Nicolas.
----
[[caption-width-right:314:History is what we believe. History itself is a fairy tale.]]
->''"It is while I stitch the Queen's gown, on the night her eldest daughter is to die, that I first sense an uneasy power."''
''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' is the debut novel of Susann Cokal. It is, in a sentence, a [[FairyTale fairy tale]] about [[TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed syphilis]]. The story follows two women, Ava Bingen, a seamstess in the queen's household who is demoted after accidentally pricking the queen with a needle during an emergency gown repair, and Midi Sorte, a nursemaid from a faraway land (likely somewhere in Africa, though no one, least of all Midi knows) who never speaks due the mutilation of her tongue. The narrative is interspersed with chapters told from the point of view of several characters, as well as including several original [[NestedStory fairytales]] throughout the text.
Scandinavia, 1572. In the city of [[FictionalCountry Skyggehavn]] the eldest daughter of King Christian V and Queen Isabel is about [[ArrangedMarriage to be married]] to a Swedish duke. The marriage is not a popular one, politically because the Catholic kingdom is wary of uniting with Protestant Sweden, and personally because Princess Sophia is only twelve years old, sickly, and has only barely passed her menarche. The alliance is too valuable to lose, though, so the princess will be wed. However as she and her husband are about to consummate the marriage, Sophia mysteriously dies. The king, certain that someone must be to blame, begins looking for poisoners in his court. The queen, already not right in the head, begins to slip further over the edge. And all the while, the ''[[VictorianNovelDisease Morbus Lunediernus]]'', the illness that plagues the royal children, makes them weaker and weaker.
Everyone is frightened for the future and scrambling to preserve their place in it by whatever means they have. For some characters, this means just staying alive, or keeping those children alive. For the king and queen, it means [[SuccessionCrisis producing more heirs]]. For Ava and Midi, it means a life of spying and sexual abuse.
And everyone, regardless of who they are, or what their station, lives in fear of the continued spread of the [[ThePlague Italian Fire]].
----
!!''The Kingdom of Little Wounds'' provides examples of:
* AdultFear: The king and queen watch their oldest, favorite daughter die in horrible pain on her wedding night. Sophia is only the first loss.
* AllMenAreRapists: There are some aversions like Jacob Lille, but for the most part the men in this story force themselves on the women.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: In actions rather than words. [[spoiler: Christian finally kisses Nicolas, and he knows how bad it will be if they're caught.]]
* AristocratsAreEvil: Played with. Some are evil, like Nicolas, some are clueless of the harm they do, like the queen. But in essence, if you're common like Ava and Midi are, aristocrats can ruin your entire life on a whim and think nothing of it.
* ArrangedMarriage: Princess Sophia is married to a Swedish duke at the beginning of the book. She's barely twelve at the time, but they need the marriage desperately.
* BabyFactory: Isabel's role at court. Notably right after Sophia dies, the king comes to her bed to create another child as though Sophia were just a part to replace and Isabel a mechanism to make that replacement.
* BackFromTheDead: A legend springs up that Sophia's ghost is terrorizing the palace.
* BlackBestFriend: From the description of the book, one might expect Midi to play this role to Ava. They're at odds with each other for most of the story.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Even our heroines aren't above some gray behavior.
* BlackMagic: People believe the royal family is cursed.
** Midi is not a witch, but many believe she is because she is so strange.
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: Not Sophia's wedding dress, but the nightdress she dies in on her wedding night gets very messy.
* BookDumb: Ava is illiterate.
* BreakTheHaughty: Countess Elinor is accused of and arrested for poisoning the royal children, after ruining Midi's and Ava's lives.
* ClosetKey: Nicolas makes Christian realize some things about himself.
* {{Confessional}}: Towards the end of the book, Ava breaks down and spills out everything he has done. Isabel remarks that she needs absolution, but Ava does not want to see a priest. [[spoiler: So Isabel forgives Ava herself.]]
* ConvenientMiscarriage: Played with in the cases of Ava, Midi, and Isabel. Two of these women miscarry, though not for lack of trying on the part of the third one.
* DarkestAfrica: Midi's origins are given this treatment by people at court.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: When the royal family is so vulnerable, power struggles are a given.
* DefiledForever: Certainly Ava seems to think she is.
* DepravedBisexual: Nicolas Bullen, who if he isn't attracted to men, he's willing to act like it if it gets him a step up the ladder.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After all the horror of their lives, Midi and Ava escape court, raise Midi's daughter together, and become wise women.]]
* EasilyForgiven: The queen would forgiven Elinor anything at all.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The reader's introduction to Isabel involves throwing a horrible fit and nearly eating a pearl.
* EthnicMagician: Midi isn't actually a witch, but everyone--including Ava--treats her like she is.
* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Unfortunately, most of it is awful. Also, syphilis is everywhere.
* FanDisservice: Pretty much all of the sex. Also Nicolas has jewels sewed into his penis.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Isabel is widely known to be mad, and serving her is something of a nightmare.
* GoodParents: Ava's father and stepmother, especially for the time period. They continue to support Ava even after she nearly ruined the family by miscarrying in public.
* HappyMarriageCharade: Christian and Isabel. They don't hate each other, but their marriage is not the miracle their daughter Sophia thinks it is.
* HideYourPregnancy: Ava got pregnant by Jacob and tried to keep it secret. [[ConvenientMiscarriage It failed]].
** Midi gets pregnant and tries to keep it from everyone. This too failed eventually.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Magnus, Duke of Östergötland. He marries Sophia and quickly leaves after she dies.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Nicolas looks like he's going to get everything he wants. He's set himself up as regent to the child queen Beatte, he's groomed her to both like him and think of herself as a queen, and then he's all set to marry her. She stabs him in the leg with a knife he gave her to protect her virtue, and the wound ultimately kills him.]]
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Both the king and queen place complete faith in people they really shouldn't trust.
* InTheBlood: Its implied that the children contracted congenital syphilis from Isabel.
* InstantBirthJustAddWater: [[spoiler: When Isabel births her last child, it almost slides out of her without effort because her body has done this so many times.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Ava and Midi are both fertile women, and they really wish they weren't.
* LetMeTellYouAStory: The whole story is apparently being told to a group of children.
* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: More common than not. Sex is often something the female characters need to endure, not enjoy. Sophia in particular does her best to knock herself out with wine before consummating her marriage.
* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: The king is in love with Nicolas. [[spoiler: His daughter follows suit.]]
* LoveTriangle: Midi, Arthur, and Ava. Ultimately subverted. [[spoiler: Ava doesn't really want Arthur and Arthur just wants a socially acceptable wife, even though he truly loves Midi.]]
* MadwomanInTheAttic: After a while, Isabel is locked away from court.
* ManipulativeBastard: Nicolas Bullen, who quietly manipulates the king into doing his bidding.
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: There are seven royal children at the beginning of the story, and Isabel gets pregnant again after Sophia dies. The number of children falls over the course of the story.
** Ava originally had many siblings, but the family was reduced to her and her father due to plague.
* MissingMom: Ava's mother died when she was six.
* MyBelovedSmother: Isabel is completely devoted to her children and cares for them all herself. She's a terrible caregiver, and this backfires horribly.
* NatureAdoresAVirgin: The nature of royal marriages. Isabel insists that she came to Christian a virgin. Sophia was also a virgin on her wedding night.
** Jacob didn't penetrate Ava because while he wanted to be intimate before their wedding, he still wanted to marry a virgin.
* NestedStory: Throughout the narrative are several short original fairy tales.
* NoAccountingForTaste: People think this is how Christian and Isabel's marriage works. Subverted when Christian is trying to hide the fact that he's interested in men.
* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Periods are even used as a form of characterization as all the women in the nursery cycle at the same time but for the stubborn and contrary Midi.
* ThePlague: Syphilis, known commonly as the Italian Fire, is devastating Europe.
** The royal family is all ill, an affliction everyone is calling ''Morbus Lunediernus''. It's also syphilis, though the queen refuses to accept this.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Ava believes this is what happened when she reports on Countess Elinor.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Nicolas lays the charge for the illness in the royal family on the queen.
* RoyalBlood: Important for politics. [[spoiler: Ultimately abandoned, since the Lunedies are too ill a family to continue; Isabel takes another woman's baby as her own.]]
* RoyallyScrewedUp: Played with. Everything that would normally be attributed to RoyalInbreeding or a FamilyCurse is actually caused by an epidemic.
* SanitySlippage: A consequence of syphilis. The queen has probably been losing her mind for years, and she only appears to get worse over the story.
* ScreamingBirth: [[spoiler: Isabel screams to pretend she is in labor after she has already given birth. Further played with in that she didn't scream when she ''was'' in labor.]]
* SexEqualsLove: Completely averted. More often than not, sex is something for women to endure and men to dominate women with.
* SnipeHunt: The royal children are just sick, okay.
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: Subverted everywhere. [[spoiler: Ava is left pregnant after Jacob runs away, but she miscarries. Isabel is still pregnant when Christian dies, but she also miscarries. Midi manages to carry her baby to term, but she's not sure who the father is and the afterword would suggest she's not so attached to Arthur after all.]]
* StarCrossedLovers: Ava and Jacob. Jacob fled the country (presumably to Denmark) because it wasn't safe for him to be a Protestant.
* STDImmunity: ''*Nope.*''
* SuccessionCrisis: There is only one male heir, and like his sisters, he's sickly. It's so bad that people are upset the king ''didn't'' have a mistress. [[spoiler: The prince dies midway through the book, making the situation worse.]]
* SurprisePregnancy: Ava realized she was pregnant after Jacob had already left her. She insists that Jacob ejaculated on her stomach.
* SwitchedAtBirth: [[spoiler: Ava brings Isabel her newborn baby brother to replace her own dead, deformed child.]]
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Nicolas Bullen, which is part of why the king falls for him.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: When Sophia dies, the kingdom acts like this is the case, going so far as to call her "The Perished Lily."
* UglyGuyHotWife: Once upon a time, this was Christian and Isabel. Isabel has lost her looks since then, but Christian always looked a bit like a sheep.
* {{Whodunnit}}: This is a common question in the story, for a variety of situations. Unfortunately, the question they should be asking is "what" rather than "who" but with everyone uneasy, it just feels better to have people to blame.
* WickedStepmother: Subverted, given this is a fairy tale. Ava gets on well with Sabine.
* WomanInWhite: When Isabel is in mourning, she wears white. She's no longer slim and pretty enough to be ethereal, but she's still mad and it leaves an impression.
* WouldHitAGirl: Ava and Midi are often on the receiving end of abuse.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Everyone knows their fairy tales, and indeed the story is narrated like a fairy tale. Unfortunately for everyone, it isn't one.
* YesMan: Agreeing with Isabel makes life in her service simpler. Not easier, just simpler.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: True for the three main women in the story. Ava lost her family at a young age, and more than that had to be sent away after a miscarriage. Midi doesn't know where home even is for her. And Isabel, as is the nature of political marriage, will never see France again.
* YourCheatingHeart: The people are amazed at how loyal Christian is to his queen. But Christian ends up falling in love with Nicolas.
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