What We’re Reading

The Bear And The Nightingale

This book creates the feeling of being inside a snow-globe at Christmas. Based on Russian folk tales and beliefs, Katherine Arden’s “The Bear And The Nightingale” had me hooked from the first page. It tells the story of Vasya, a girl who has inherited her late mother’s gift of communicating with the guardian spirits of her mediaeval village. But a new stepmother and an ancient darkness arising to engulf the land threaten to destroy Vasya and all she holds dear. This is an enchanting read: exciting, happy, sad, funny and scary, like all the best fairy stories. I loved it!