Book completed
Feb. 19th, 2022 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeSpinning Silver, by Naomi Novik. Reread. Our newest neighborhood book club member chose this for our next meeting. I only really remembered the beginning chapters - barely anything at all after almost everything in the book changes - so it was worthwhile to read it again. And this time it was really fun, and sometimes quite touching. It's basically a Jewish fantasy novel, set in a version of Eastern Europe, several hundred years ago, and inspired by Rumpelstiltskin.
The story begins with Miryem, who lives in a little village where her father is the moneylender. But he's a really bad moneylender who can't bear to ask for repayments of the loans (too conflict-avoidant), and Miryem gets exasperated when her mother falls ill and they can't afford to keep the house warm enough. So she goes out to all the people who have borrowed money and insists on getting at least some minimal payment from each of them. Her parents are dismayed that her heart has grown so cold that she can do this, but her mother's father, a rich and respected moneylender in a nearby city, is delighted.
One of the people who needs to make a payment is a dreadful old drunk, gambler, abusive father guy. He has no money to pay, so Miryem says she'll take his daughter to work in her house every day and care for her mother; this should pay off the debt in four years. So Wanda goes home with Miryem and comes every day to do the housework. It's a six-mile walk. But... the next chapter is Wanda's perspective. Although Miryem has no clue, Wanda is utterly thrilled. Four years of not worrying that her father will marry her to some equally dreadful man; four years of far fewer beatings; four years of getting to sit down to a proper, filling meal with Miryem's family before going home to her father and brothers.
Meanwhile, there's a third girl, and a tsar possessed by a demon. And of course there are the Staryk, elven-types who bring winter. I recommend it!
The story begins with Miryem, who lives in a little village where her father is the moneylender. But he's a really bad moneylender who can't bear to ask for repayments of the loans (too conflict-avoidant), and Miryem gets exasperated when her mother falls ill and they can't afford to keep the house warm enough. So she goes out to all the people who have borrowed money and insists on getting at least some minimal payment from each of them. Her parents are dismayed that her heart has grown so cold that she can do this, but her mother's father, a rich and respected moneylender in a nearby city, is delighted.
One of the people who needs to make a payment is a dreadful old drunk, gambler, abusive father guy. He has no money to pay, so Miryem says she'll take his daughter to work in her house every day and care for her mother; this should pay off the debt in four years. So Wanda goes home with Miryem and comes every day to do the housework. It's a six-mile walk. But... the next chapter is Wanda's perspective. Although Miryem has no clue, Wanda is utterly thrilled. Four years of not worrying that her father will marry her to some equally dreadful man; four years of far fewer beatings; four years of getting to sit down to a proper, filling meal with Miryem's family before going home to her father and brothers.
Meanwhile, there's a third girl, and a tsar possessed by a demon. And of course there are the Staryk, elven-types who bring winter. I recommend it!