It’s mostly sold as a “book based on folklore” (which it is), but even people who generally aren’t folklore-fantasy readers can enjoy and appreciate the cultural and historical aspects of this story. I actually think the book could have been marketed to a wider audience. From the rusalka (a mermaid or water nymph-like creatures) to the domovoi (which are similar to house elves) and even upyrs (Russian vampires of lore) - the story is littered with the trappings of uniquely Russian folklore, lending it extra color, character and vibrancy.Īnd while Arden’s novel is unabashedly fantastical in nature, it also covers the much more grounded topic of the clash between pagan and Christian beliefs in feudal Russia. The Bear in a Nightingale is a book firmly rooted in its cultural heritage. Scene from the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Dvorak’s Rusalka Book Review When Vasya’s powers begin to materialize, she realizes she will have to rely on them to protect their village, even as her beliefs clash with those around her. However, when she is older, a young Christian priest (known as a Batyushka) comes to town to take over the ministry of the small village around the time that her father marries a woman who deeply fears the old beliefs. Vasya grows up on tales and of the old Russian gods and folkloric creatures. Her mother dies when she is young, but her mother believes that Vasya will grow up to be like her grandmother, a woman was said to have had witch-like powers and who was married to a Grand Prince. Her father is a boyar, lord of their village as well as several surrounding villages. Vasya and her family live in a small forested village, Lesnaya Zemlya, to the north of Moscow. The Bear and the Nightingale takes place in medieval Russia with Czars and Grand Princes, lords and boyars (feudal Russian aristocracy) roaming about the land. Plot Summaryįor the Detailed Plot Summary, click here or scroll all the way down. which is not bad, but is certainly worse, right? The first one unfortunately is harder to find nowadays but the second one you can get pretty easily. And the last one is what’s available in U.S. The first one is the original beautiful cover, which was replaced by the second one, which is lovely as well, though not my favorite. As danger circles nearer, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed-this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.Original U.K. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or confinement in a convent. And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. But Vasilisa doesn't mind-she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Summary: "At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses.
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