I couldn’t stop gushing to friends and family about Uprooted, Novik’s previous offering, after I read it last year. From the opening sentence I was hooked. So I couldn’t wait when I heard this was out. I bought it in hardback which is something I rarely do, and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed.
Having decided to start the Century of Books challenge, to encourage myself to read more widely and to blog more frequently, I felt this was a perfect choice to start the challenge as my entry for 2018. I think reading novels like this reminds me why I love to read, why I encourage others to read and also just reminded me of the sheer enjoyment of anticipating and then loving a book.
Spinning Silver is another of Novik’s stand alone novels with a very fairy-tale feel to it.
We are first introduced to Miryem, the local money lender’s daughter. It quickly becomes clear that Miryem is embittered by her circumstances. The local people are contemptuous of Miryem and her family as they are Jewish. They have also been taking advantage of her Father’s kind nature. Her family are living in poverty while the people around them make no effort to pay back the money they have been leant.
It is interesting to see this role reversal, where we are clearly meant to sympathise with the bankers and moneylenders, and certainly the people borrowing money are clearly taking advantage of the situation and making no effort to take responsibility for their actions. On the other hand the setting is an impoverished countryside, plagued by cold weather, high taxes and as we quickly come to see, there are cruel magical beings ravaging the area as well.
Miryem takes on her Father’s role, proving to be much sterner and with more business acumen than her father. It is clear that her Mother and Father disprove of this change- their lives and circumstances change for the better but they are worried about how this is affecting Miryem’s character.
Miryem is a flawed character throughout, and thus makes an interesting character to watch develop. She is often fuelled by her bitterness and anger but also genuinely wants to provide and care for her family. She does not actively wish to cause harm, but is willing to in order to protect those she cares about.
At times I disagreed with her actions, but Novik always makes it clear why she has chosen to act in this way. Miryem spends much of the novel backed into a corner and looked down upon due to her faith and gender, and even her species.
Miryem’s success with money and gold soon becomes well known and she attracts the attention of the Staryk, a race of ice people about whom little is known but who bring winter, fear and destruction wherever they go. Miryem spends much of the novel trying to negotiate with the Staryk king- who always seems to have the upper hand over her.
This book, however is really the story of three women, and it soon becomes clear that not only is there a first person narrative but that the narrator will change between chapters. I found this jarring at first, but soon adapted to it and found it interesting to see where the three narratives intersected and how they built to come together. My only real criticism with this novel is that rather than sticking with these three main narrators, a further few characters also got chapters as narrators and I felt this was unnecessary. Once I accepted it, it didn’t stop me barrelling through this story but I don’t think it added anything to the tale, and it almost pulled me out of the story that was building at points.
The other two main characters are Wanda, who lives with an alcoholic and abusive father and two younger brothers in complete poverty. She has no education and realises that she has no value except what she can provide to her Father or a prospective husband. Her circumstances are in some ways the most dire of the three main characters and to start with she is an unsympathetic character. No one has ever shown her kindness and she is uninclined to show it to anyone else, including her young siblings. When her circumstances change-she is essentially used as payment of her Father’s debts to Miryem- she develops and changes.
Irina, is the daughter of the Duke, and is also aware that she has value only as a pawn to the men around her. Despite her rich circumstances compared to the other women she has grown up resented by her Father due to her plainess. He cannot use her to his advantage so she is therefore worthless to him. When she unexpectedly attracts the attention of the Tsar, the Duke is willing to do anything to increase his power. Irina, is essentially given to a man and despite this uses her power cunningly to do what she can to protect and improve the lives of the populace at great danger to herself.
I found this book particularly interesting because despite its fairytale style, marrying the Prince was not the happily ever after. In fact for two of the characters it was the start of their nightmares and they had to use all their cunning and resolve to protect themselves and those around them. It was the story of strong women, managing to survive and thrive despite living in a world where they were considered weak and useless.
I really enjoyed this book: strong female characters who were all decidedly flawed in a fascinating fairytale setting where nothing was black and white. This novel made me think yet was delightful and fun to read.
Gilt and Dust 