Melissa Poett on her Tristan and Isolde retelling, The Enemy’s Daughter

We love a reimagined myth retelling because it always gives us a chance to revisit stories we know a bit about, or even introduces us to new ones. With The Enemy’s Daughter, Melissa Poett tackles the legend of Tristan and Isolde in a dystopian setting. The story is set with two rival settlements with views that cannot be more different, and enemies who are bound to each other through a magical bond. A very captivating retelling. To celebrate the release, we invited Melissa Poett to our platform today.

Did retelling a lesser-known myth give you more creative freedom, or did you feel pressure to weave in specific elements from the original story?

The legend of Tristan and Isolde does seem to fly under the radar, and I don’t know why. It’s a personal favourite of mine, which is why I approached it with such genuine respect and held fast to the enemies-to-lovers dynamic, the poisoning, and the love potion. But yes, instead of making it a straight retelling, I did give myself permission to reimagine parts of it. That opened the door for me to play with new elements, like adding a touch of magic, setting it in a dystopian world, and using real-world themes that I could make my own.

The magical bond is such a fascinating concept. What inspired this concept, and how do you imagine the world would be different if such a bond existed in real life?

Hands down, a magical bond that ties you to an enemy is one of my favourite tropes. There’s just so much room for tension and forced vulnerability. I also saw potential for how to use that as a modern take on the love potion aspect of the story. The twist is in the consent. Tristan and Isadora have to build trust to gain each other secrets, which then raises the question—how do you learn to trust someone you’re supposed to hate? It created such a delicious conflict.

And as for how the world would be different if this bond existed in real life—there’s a lot of directions this could go. What I liked about this magic system was the way that sharing memories induces empathy. You’re literally in the other person’s shoes, seeing and hearing the world from their perspective. That kind of connection cuts through misunderstanding and removes a lot of the space for bias. Which, I think could radically—hopefully—transform a lot of relationships.

This healing bond also seems to speak to the sacredness of emotional and physical intimacy. Why do you think that’s such an important theme to explore in a YA novel?

I think sacredness is a great way to put it. Emotional intimacy isn’t a concept often explored in YA, especially when compared to physical intimacy, so the idea of grounding the magic in how emotionally open Tristan and Isadora were to each other intrigued me. The entire magic system really grew out of the idea of how trust, vulnerability, and truly opening your heart to someone can be incredibly powerful. And although sometimes that connection can make you stronger, other times, it can leave you exposed. It was fun exploring that tension.

Let’s chat about world building. The two rival settlements—the Five Clans and the Kingsland—have such contrasting values. How did you develop these communities, and what inspired their different worldviews?

I think the hallmark of a dystopian tale is that there’s a reflective, cautionary layer that shines a light on oppressive governing power. This story was no exception. Without giving too much away, I definitely pulled straight from the history books. In some cases, straight from the news. I was also really interested in the idea of how, after a cataclysmic event, two communities could evolve in completely different directions, all because of the leader they chose.

Isadora knows very little about the world beyond her settlement, which makes her a somewhat unreliable narrator. Why did you choose to tell the story solely from her perspective instead of using a dual POV? 

As someone who usually writes dual POV, I do enjoy getting the different angles and thoughts of the main characters. But for this, it was necessary that the reader have the world presented to them solely through Isadora’s eyes. Her journey is the story. However, as their connection develops, you’re rewarded with glimpses of Tristan’s POV, giving the reader that little fix as to what’s going on in his head.

The Enemy’s Daughter also explores the dangers of restricting access to knowledge. Was that a theme you intentionally set out to explore, and how do you see it connecting with the concerns of young readers today?

Yes, very much so. One of the things I really wanted to weave into the story was the idea of how limiting access to knowledge can impact a society. In both good and bad ways. It’s something that shows up right from the first pages and circles back at the end—definitely not by accident. I hope it gets readers thinking about how knowledge and even indoctrination appears in the world around them and whether keeping people in the dark about certain things is really about protection, or if it might sometimes be a way to maintain control. It’s a discussion that’s incredibly relevant today.

The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poett is out Aug 14, 2025. Get your copy here.