AND THE TREES STARE BACK

In 1980s Estonia, the grip of the USSR is beginning to loosen even as one girl’s attempt to save her sister exposes a dark reality.

Five years ago, in 1984, Viktoria made a horrible mistake—during a moment of distraction, she let her 5-year-old sister disappear in the bog behind their house, a place where such events are common. Now Anna has returned, but she hasn’t aged. She can’t explain where she’s been, and the bog seems to call her back. With the oracle cards she carries as a guide, 16-year-old Vik desperately tries to figure out what to do while navigating turmoil with her closest friend, Liis, and facing the hostile villagers, who turn on her family. Although the Estonians’ language and culture have survived decades of Soviet oppression—which is loosening—some people are more interested in assimilating with Russians. The influence of Vik’s maternal uncle Silver, who supports the Soviet way of thinking and runs the government asylum just outside of town, looms large. In this politically astute story filled with skillfully incorporated background information about a fascinating and complex historical period, Vik’s quest authentically and thoroughly incorporates her struggles with OCD and complex PTSD (which Griffis explains in a mental health note but aren’t diagnosed in-world). Liis has a limb difference, and Vik’s mother has PTSD, too. This gripping, deeply human, and eerie mystery has parallels to current events that will provoke readers to think.

Speculative, unsettling, and intensely emotional.