Of Swords and Parasols

Rose is the eighth daughter of a mapmaker and a superstitious woman. Told that any child she bore who was born facing north would be buried in an avalanche, her mother bore a child facing every direction on a compass save for due north, then stopped after the seventh child. When her eastern born daughter died, however, she and her husband decided to have another child. However, when Rose was born facing due north, her mother lied that she was born facing east. Soon, the family was faced with slowly increasing misfortune, until they lived on a farm from which they were about to be evicted, and one daughter near death from illness. At that time, a white bear-similar to one Rose claimed to see often as a child-came to the family and said their fortunes would be reversed if Rose would come away with him. Though her father objects, Rose agrees with the bear‘s proposal, and goes with him to his castle far away.

That I somehow missed that this is an adaptation of East of the Sun, West of the Moon is rather amazing. There’s the title. And the cover with the girl and the polar bear. And the back cover description. And the quote from a review stating that it’s an adaptation of the fairy tale. In my defense, I often ignore those quotes. I think that I stumbled across it when I was looking for YA that might appeal to me last year, and didn’t notice much beyond that it sounded interesting and fairy tale-like. I can feel you judging me. Stop that.

This is especially bad, as is one of my favorites. The Snow Queen is my favorite fairy tale, and you’ll notice some similarities. I found the book very engrossing, and, of course, there are a number of changes and additions to be made when adapting a relatively short work into a 500 page book. The book is told in 5 first person narratives, with each voice being very distinct. One aspect that I liked was that it also showed Rose’s family dealing with losing her, and what they did with their lives. It also explores her childhood, and the superstitions that affected her life. The Troll Princess who ensorcelled the bear is also one of the narrators, and is actually portrayed as a somewhat sympathetic character who genuinely loves him. In addition, Rose is more proactive from the start than the nameless girl in the original. Not that she was a pushover.

Has anyone read Pattou’s other books? She doesn’t seem to have written very many.