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YA
An imprisoned man tells his story, Scheherazade-like, in letters to the tsar. He begins with Elena, a young girl in the impoverished Russian countryside, who meets privileged Ekaterina. Their lives collide and intertwine. Maguire savors every inch of his elaborate narrative, introducing tropes from Russian folktales and giving his characters plenty of play, especially the hardboiled Baba Yaga, who seems to exist outside of time.
Reviewer: Nina Lindsay
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2014