Once upon a time, a young woman makes a deal with a mysterious white bear, traveling on his back to a castle far away where she is kept in opulent seclusion, in exchange for her family finding new fortunes. Though she learns to enjoy her comfortable imprisonment, she yearns for home. After she’s allowed a brief visit home, she becomes curious about the identity of the strangely-intelligent bear, and the unseen man who curls up in her bed with her every night. But an attempt to discover the truth leads only to tragedy, and the bear is carried off by the dark forces who hold him in magical sway. Now the girl must travel “east of the sun, west of the moon” to rescue her friend and solve the mystery. And her journey will be a long, perilous one, taking her to the very top of the world….
The tale is familiar to any fairy tale fan; the setting is all new, taking place in the cold wilds of Norway, centuries ago, and ultimately taking the heroine into France, and then far up into the frozen wastes of the Arctic. Weaving rich historical details, chilling (literally) realism, and quiet magics together, East is a worthy retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” that lives up to its promise and then some. Told through a variety of voices, including the main character, Rose, the magical bear, and even the selfish troll queen, it’s a fascinating tale, well-woven by an author who makes the dangers of the journey really come alive. I’m a sucker for retold fairy tales, and this one really stands out as new and interesting.