"Never tell children about things they cannot see." This was one of the unbreakable rules in the Stalinist Soviet Union, and Lina's grandfather broke it. That, and speaking against the government, got him and his daughter sent to a labor camp in the pitiless wilds of Siberia, and it was there that Lina was born.
The camp is the only world she's ever known. Her life there is better than that of the other prisoners; she works in the greenhouse instead of in the mines, she has a friend, Bogdan, a boy near her own age, and her mother's skill at card games has won small favors that have helped, a little, make it bearable. But when there's a chance for Lina to escape, she must take it, though it means leaving her mother behind.
Bogdan inserts himself into the escape as well, and though the two tough men who have masterminded it don't want him, he can't be sent back to betray them. They don't actually want Lina along either; her mother had promised that if they brought her to her grandmother's house in Moscow, they'd be rewarded, but in the snowy wilderness outside the camp, the unlikely promise of the reward is of less value than her a share of the meager provisions. Lina and Bogdan barely manage to escape being murdered.
In the freezing night, a new danger comes--shadow wolves are out hunting. The men are attacked, but somehow the wolves are unable to harm the two children. This in turn draws the attention of the wolves' mistress, the terrifying sorceress Svetlana, who hates all humans with an unreasonable passion. Lina and Bogdan must now escape from her before they join her ranks of shadow slaves, and must find their own way to Moscow, an impossible journey they have no choice but to take.
With a little shadow girl who's escaped the witch's clutches to join them, they set out through the snow...and Lina's growing sense of her own magic, and some very good luck, keeps them alive. But Svetlana is still hunting them, Lina's mother is still imprisoned, and they are miles and miles away from Moscow....
It's a gripping journey. Lina, brave and scared and confused, and realizing she has powers of her own, is a great character, but I personally liked Bogdan, mapmaker and loyal comrade, even more. The best part, though, in my mind was the way the real-world horrors of Stalin's iron rule make a satisfying counterpoint to the magical danger of Svetlana. Both are constant dangers. There's enough about life in the Stalinist Soviet Union (though not much history of events) to make this a great one to accompany more formal education, something I wholeheartedly recommend; my own sense of the past owes almost as much to reading historical fiction like this as it does to classroom time! (There's a teacher's guide available).
Unlike Stalinism, Svetlana turns out to be more than just an evil antagonist. I wasn't satisfied by her character development, which was more than a bit abrupt, and this diminished my personal enjoyment of the book. But in middle grade fiction, I'm amenable to sacrificing some nuance if it means a more exciting story, as is the case here. Incidentally, we don't learn the specifics of Svetlana's origins; she not native to the human world, and came to Siberia from warmer lands, so though there are echos of Russian folktales like Baba Yaga, I was content to think of her as some sort of djinn.
In any event, I don't think the lack of time spent filing in all the blanks is something kids will be bothered by. They'll be too engrossed in the whirlwind of adventures both magical and more mundane!This is Katharine Orton's debut novel, and I look forward to reading what she writes next!
The UK cover is at the right; it is also lovely, but in this case I think I am more drawn to the US version, which I think does a better job of linking the fantasy side of things to the real world. Which do you like better?)
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher
The UK cover seems a bit cutesy. The story sounds quite harrowing! The US cover is beautiful but has an element of threat and I love how the smoke from the burning city (if that's what it is) turn into the shadowy cloak.
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