THERE FLIES THE WITCH

A girl seeks a sense of belonging and the truth about her identity.

Red, whose real name is Janneke, lives with her mother, Yakaka. Yakaka is a witch, and she and Red spend their days healing the earth with Yakaka’s stories. Red is uncertain about her real connection to Yakaka and about her own past, the only clue to which is “a dreadful dream” that returns every night. Although they both have brown skin, mother and daughter otherwise do not resemble each other; Red also does not have wings or possess magic like her mother, and she is not satisfied with Yakaka’s explanations for why this is. One day, while flying over the sea, Red clinging to Yakaka’s back, they crash, washing ashore on an island they’ve never seen before. Yakaka abandons Red there, but she meets Rubos, a boy who brings her home to his mother. There begins Red’s journey to uncovering who she really is. Paasewe-Valchev’s elliptical prose effectively conveys Red’s thoughts and feelings: “Feel my chest pounding. Feel my legs shaking. I need to get back to the dunes before Yakaka leaves without me.” The descriptions of the setting evoke a faraway land, both idyllic in its natural beauty and containing lurking dangers and existing outside of time in a way reminiscent of folklore. Red’s story expands on themes of family, love, self-identity, forgiveness, and growth in this novel that will appeal to sophisticated readers.

A dreamy story that reads like an extended folktale.