Monday, July 16, 2012

Wildwood Dancing

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, 2007 Macmillan

     If you weave together the Twelve Dancing Princesses, a Transylvanian Baba Yaga, vampires, and the Frog Prince what do you get? You get the tale of five sisters learning to take their place in a superstitious male-centric world.
     Jena is the second of her five sisters; Tatiana is the eldest and the pretty one, Paula is the scholarly one, Iulia is the passionate thirteen-year-old, and Stela is the tender-hearted five-year-old. Jena, as the sensible one, is put in charge of her father's affairs when he goes south for his health. The girls are getting by, continuing their monthly trips into the Other Kingdom to dance at the fairy court, but things begin to go downhill when the Night People appear in the Fairies' Enchanted Glade.
     Suddenly all the rules that've governed the girls interactions with the Other Kingdom no longer seem effective. Tati falls in love and begins to waste away, Jena is drawn to the leader of the Night People, yet is held back and grounded by her constant companion Gogu.
     Gogu is a frog Jena found in the forest after a traumatic incident with her cousins as a child. For nine years Jena and Gogu have been best friends, each the other's confidant with Jena the only one who can hear his thoughts. As things begin to change, so does their relationship. When Jena's cousin Cesar has taken over her responsibilities and locked the sisters in their home, things take a turn for the worse--Gogu turns into a human. Jena doesn't know if she can trust this new version of her friend.
     This is a story of Faith and Loyalty, Truth and Trust. The choices before Jena are difficult, but if she could just have faith and trust in the truths and friendships around her, the rewards will bring a lifetime of happiness. Along the way Jena experiences the ardor of her cousin's unwanted attentions, the loss of both friends and family, and she must give up control and allow her world to change. In accepting the changes around her, Jena grows into her new-found place in a shifting world.

No comments:

Post a Comment