Silent No More

My newest format of choice for reading is now audiobooks. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize I loved it – but here I am. I finally made it. So if I misspell anything, especially names, I apologize. 

The Bear and the Nightingale is a haunting, dark, yet whimsical tale – it’s Russian-inspired, complete with Russian lore, and a wintery setting. It follows the tale of a family – there is Pyotr, the lord of a certain area bordered by woods, who is twice widowed and married to Marina. Then there is the nurse/nanny/housekeeper Dunya, an old lady with a penchant for storytelling. Pyotr’s children are Olgo, Niikolai (Colya) and Alyosha (Sasha). As the story opens, it becomes apparent that Marina is pregnant. But she is sickly, and Pyotr and Dunya are convinced she probably won’t survive the birth. 

The opening chapter is Dunya recounting a tale to the family around the fire – it is winter, and there is very little to do save stay warm and listen to Dunya. She tells of a Frost Prince, a god or demon of sorts, who the villagers fear. They often take young maidens to the wood to appease him, and either he “marries” them, or the villagers return to find the young women frozen. One family, in a Cinderella-like way, send a young maiden to him. He is impressed by her courage, and lets her live, sending her back to her family with mountains of jewels. This fairy-tale will play a central role in the story that follows. 

Marina does give birth, and it’s a baby girl. They call her Vasya. Dunya had pleaded with Marina to “get rid of it” before Vasya is born, but Marina refuses, insisting this child will save many people, and will be “like her mother.” It’s apparent there is a type of magic that has been passed down through the female line is Marina’s family, an ability to see and talk to the household gods. There are many gods, both in the household and out in the wood. Most of the people view the gods superstitiously, leaving trinkets or food out for them. In return, the gods help the people, be it giving them good harvests, or finishing laundry or mending clothes. 

By the time Vasya is six, she is clearly different. One day while out playing, she gets lost in the woods and encounters a sleeping man with one eye. She awakens him and asks for help getting home. He reacts very strangely, and the mood turns dark and foreboding before they are interrupted by a man on horseback. Vasya runs and finds her way home, but Pyotr realizes he needs to remarry. He marries Anna, the daughter of Ivan, Marina’s brother, who is giving her to him for political reasons. Anna is mad, most say. She sees demons. And those in Moscow, being very religious and Catholic, shun her. She hates Vasya, because VAsya can see demons too. But Vasya doesn’t view them as demons, as the countryfolk mix a variation of Catholicism with mysticism.

What follows is a timeline following Vasya as she grows into a young woman considered a “witch” but the country-folk, complete with a monk who is a combination of Rasputin/Claude Frollo – a fictional/nonfictional mashup – who lusts after her and condemns himself for it. His name is Constantine, and he convinces the people to turn from the “demons” and follow God. As the people do so, the old gods become forgotten, and chaos ensues. 

All in all, this was a fascinating listen. I absolutely loved the narrator, the talented Kathleen Gati, who brings Katherine Arden’s work to life. It’s clear both the author and the narrator are passionate about this story. Arden’s beautiful prose places you right in the story. Although it’s written from an omniscient narrator POV, it didn’t take me out of the story as I expected, since I prefer first person narration or deep POV, which places you right in the characters head. 

There were two themes that stuck out the most. Loyalty in its various forms – Marina’s loyalty to her daughter, Vasya’s loyalty to the old gods and to the village folk, the old gods loyalty to Vasya… it’s a theme that weaves throughout the whole story. The second theme was this idea that religions can’t coexist, that they must clash. Yet in Vasya we see a strength, a strength that can take two supposedly clashing ideas and meld them seamlessly together. Some of my favorite scenes were between Vasya and Constantine as they battled intellectually – Constantine with his brittle, unbending approach to God, and Vasya challenging his views. 

My only contention with this story is it’s length – there were some scenes that went on too long, or didn’t move the plot along. The writing was purposefully meandering, not in a way that made the story hard to follow, but mostly to match the mood and setting of the book. However, I felt that it was a bit much. 

If you are looking for a brooding yet uplifting story with a young female lead whose bravery sets her elders to shame, pick this one up. It’s beautiful, it’s haunting, it’s delicious, it’s dark, and it’s perfect for the winter.

4.5/5 stars.