Raised in a small village surrounded by vast forests, Liba and Laya have lived a peaceful sheltered life – even if they’ve heard of troubling times for Jews elsewhere. When their parents travel to visit their dying grandfather, the sisters are left behind in their home in the woods.
But before they leave, Liba discovers the secret that their Tati can transform into a bear, and their Mami into a swan. Perhaps, Liba realizes, the old fairy tales are true. She must guard this secret carefully, even from her beloved sister.
Soon a troupe of mysterious men appear in town and Laya falls under their spell-despite their mother’s warning to be wary of strangers. And these are not the only dangers lurking in the woods…
The sisters will need each other if they are to become the women they need to be – and save their people from the dark forces that draw closer.
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Okay, so it’s been a while since I read this book but I remember enough about it to review it, simply because I wasn’t keen on it. The book follows two Jewish sisters as they try to survive and keep each other safe while their parents are away, but things take a turn for the worse when Laya falls under the spell of some outsiders and her loyalties are clouded as she becomes enchanted herself.
But what Liba doesn’t tell Laya is that their family is hiding a secret that could destroy them if others were to find out, and Laya is the target.
My friend leant me this book as I’m quite keen on folklore and fantasy but I found it very difficult to connect to the characters and engage with them. The story is told very much a folktale in verse in some places and is very melodic. However, for me, that took me out of the book, but if someone is looking for a novel which stays very true to its folklore origins this is it.
It does have rich undertones and some of the imagery is incredible, it feels a bit much a times, but I could clearly picture what was happening; from the transformation into a bear or swan, you truly feel what they are going through and the confusion which comes with it.
What lost me the most was when they each found a boy and it became very loved-up. As I’ve said in previous reviews I do like romance to be more subtle, but this was very in your face from each sister and was quite boring to read. It goes on for a while and in their infatuation, they seem incapable of doing much else. While I can excuse Laya slightly as she was under a spell, Liba’s own experiences just compounded why I prefer my romance to be subtle. It felt like a sledgehammer.
There’s a lot of undertones and themes being explored in this book, from sister love, Jewish lore, anti-Semitism, and its testament that Rossner is able to comment on all of these without losing the plot through the novel. I’ll admit, I don’t know a lot about Jewish history, folklore etc. only what little we were taught in school, so I think for those with that knowledge this book may speak to them more than me, and perhaps points out that I should possibly look into this and expand my knowledge.
All in all, this book wasn’t for me, but it will be for a lot of people and looking at other reviews I’m glad to see lots of people who have enjoyed it. I would recommend looking at those reviews if you are interested in reading this book as they will obviously have a lot more to say than I have, and can go further in depth into why this book spoke to them.
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