...(book review) the sisters of the winter wood by rena rossner

In a remote village surrounded by forests on the border of Moldova and Ukraine, sisters Liba and Laya have been raised on the honeyed scent of their Mami's babka and the low rumble of their Tati's prayers. But when a troupe of mysterious men arrives, Laya falls under their spell. As dark forces close in on their village. Liba and Laya discover a family secret about a magical heritage they never knew existed. The sisters realise the old fairy tales are true...and could save them all.

THE SISTERS OF WINTER WOOD by Rena Rossner

Genre: YA Fantasy / Magical Realism / Fantasy > Fairy Tales

Published: 2018

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was a mesmerising mixture of historical fiction, poetry and folklore that reads like an entirely believable fairy-tale from a cruel, anti-sematic time.

The original concept for this story, I believe, was to be a retelling of Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market, which I regret I haven't read to be able to draw comparisons. But I love that the author has incorporated so many different fairy-tales and folklore stemming from Russia and Ukraine on top of this retelling, whilst also incorporated some of her own history and fictional happenings inspired by real events:

In Dubossary, on the border between Ukraine and Moldova in 1903, an anti-sematic newspapers called for a riot and massacre of the Jews after the body of a young Christian boy was found drained of blood in the garden of a Jewish man. It escalated horribly and the Jewish people were falsely accused of using the blood of non-Jews to bake Passover bread, the Jews had no choice but to defend themselves. It's as a result of the riot in Dubossary that the author's family first made their way to America. The personal ties to this story make it so much more potent and multi-layered.

I love books with a fairy-tale feel and this book was honestly entrancing due to unusual mix of concepts, all well explained, horrifying and gripping at once. I devoured it like a hungry bear.

The love of the sisters and the bond they share despite their differences drove this book from start to finish. Liba and Laya have unique voices expressed in their own format, keeping the reading varied and interesting.

It's a strong and passionate story of self discovery, family, and sisterhood.

Thoroughly recommend! This is definitely one of my new favourites to shout about.

Let me know your thoughts if you've read this book, and let me know if you read it on my recommendation. 

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...(book review) the book thief by markus zusak

 

HERE IS A SMALL FACT

 You are going to die.

1939 Nazi Germany. The country is holding it's breath. Death has never been busier. 

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME IMORTANT INFORMATION.

This novel is narrated by death.

It's a small story about:

a girl

an accordionist

some fanatical Germans 

a Jewish fist fighter

and quite a lot of thievery.

THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak

Genre: Historical Fiction > WWII

Published: 2005

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stories from the war, both fictional and biographical, exist in abundance, but have you ever read Death's perspective on the tragedy?

Death's narrative is just one unique component of this book. The characters are engaging, real and compassionate. All have a magnetism that I was drawn to, and by the end of the book I felt I knew as friends. 

I laughed, I wept, I felt in my gut the collective anger, sadness and fear of the German people watching the Nazis come into power and take away Jewish people without motive, people they had called friends and neighbours.

For children growing up in this time, heads pumped with propaganda, made to witness the besmirchment of an entire race of guiltless people, it must have been even more confusing and distressing.

Liesel is the character whose life Death follows, a young girl whose mother has been taken away as a communist and who's been sent to live with Hans and Rose Hubermann. Her brother died on the journey, and she feels his absence in the empty bed beside hers in her new foster home. Death haunts her, literally and figuratively, drawn to her character, her spirit, and her odd pattern of stealing books that cross her path.

This author has an extraordinary gift for capturing the light in the great darkness that was the war years in Germany. I feel his appreciation of words and language warming and tugging at my heart, echoed in Liesel's character, who learns to read and write with the help of her foster father, Hans, an accordionist with a huge heart.

"The words. Why did they have to exist? Without them, there wouldn't be any of this."

This book will always hold a place on my list of top 5 brilliant books. I've yet to find an historical fiction that will best it.

It's uniqueness is very hard to articulate, but if you'll take me at my word, I can vouch for its brilliance. 

It has a resonance that continues to reverberate through me years after my first reading. The beauty and brutality of humanity is trapped within it's pages. It calls to me, and I know I'll be compelled to read it time and time again through my life, appreciating and despairing over it more and more with each read.

"Even Death has a heart."

If you've read this book, please let me know your thoughts. I thrive on discussing it!

If you haven't read it - do it now!!! It's a book I think everyone should read before they die. 

Happy reading!

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...(book review) the mermaid and mrs hancock by imogen hermes gowar

 On a September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock finds one of his captains waiting eagerly on his doorstep. He has sold Jonah's ship for what appears to be a mermaid.

As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock's marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society, where he meets Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on...

What will be the cost of their ambitions? And will they be able to escape the legendary destructive power a mermaid is said to possess? 

THE MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK by Imogen Hermes Gowar

Genre: Historical Fiction / Magical Realism / Mythology > Mermaids

Published: 2019

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a strong four star read for me, and easily one of my favourites that I've picked up this year. Once again, shame on me for letting it languish for so long on my shelves before pulling it down on a whim to read.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock is a brilliant historical fiction, set in the Georgian era, which is a period of history that captivates and devastates me owing to the stark and brutal contrast of the rich being flamboyantly so, and the poor being pitiably so.

In this novel, we see the women caught between the two worlds in the seedy underbelly of London, honing in on Mrs Chappell's "nunnery" better known as London's most exclusive brothel.

Angelica Neal is one woman who managed to leave its walls under the protection of her patron, a Duke, who has recently passed away without marrying her, leaving her once again to fend for herself in the world. Reluctant to return to Chappell's she takes rooms in London and throws herself back into society, determined to climb in her rank whilst still preserving a sense of freedom. But the ties with her old life are hard to break, and soon she is compelled to attend a party at her old "nunnery", where she is assigned the task of looking after Mr Hancock, the "mermaid man", whose grotesque mermaid has been hired to be a display piece in the brothel by Mrs Chappell herself. Thus their meeting is cemented.

I found the comparison between the Angelica Neal and Mrs Chappell's other young ladies with the mermaid quite unexpected but potent. All are seen as spectacles. All are curiosities to be possessed. And like the mermaid is bound by it's display case, the women are bound by their position in the house and in society, mixing with the rich, but kept above the poor.

Whereas Mr Hancock is quite the opposite, reserved and unambitious towards his lifestyle, not knowing what was lacking from it until the mermaid comes unexpectedly into his possession, but also not knowing the affects the mermaid will have upon his person.

"I am cognisant, as those gentlemen are not, that all pleasures have their cost."

I loved the inclusion of the mythology of the mermaid in this historical fiction, adding the interest of a magical realism that wove through these characters and London society and piqued their interest. People have always been, and I daresay always will be, fascinated by the odd and the fantastical. The story and the period is convincingly researched and therefore very well written. The characters are real and fluid in their evolution, both the main and the supporting players. The cover is beautiful. What more is there to say?  I loved it.

I recommend reading this, especially if, like mine, your preferences run towards the historical and the magical. This was a lovely mix of both.

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