Lush gothic fantasy in a culture where religion is based on the Birds of Light and the Birds of Night. Fifteen-year-old Aggie, summoned to work on the gloomy, threatening estate of Murkmere Hall, leaves her humble village behind. She’s appointed companion to Murkmere’s mistress, a girl her own age named Leah. Leah and her guardian read books that the political-religious Ministration considers blasphemous. Aggie fears for their souls, even more so when the discovery of an old swanskin heightens Leah’s possibly sacrilegious obsession with the mere’s swans. A corrupt steward and the master’s ever-worsening health speed the story along. Aggie’s loyalties and beliefs shift as evil religious leaders throw Leah’s future into grave danger. Suspenseful pacing matches dramatic events and symbolism. Aggie’s occasional hindsight voice and an unfortunate author’s note strike the only (rare) distracting notes of over-dramatization. Wonderfully atmospheric and moody—on the border between fantasy and fiction. (Fantasy. 10-14)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-316-01042-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Karen is attacked by a group of six or seven girls and the fear and pain seem overwhelming until she suddenly realizes that she is running like a fox, the hounds are baying, and there is no safety no matter how hard she runs. Transformed by her fear into a real fox with a sharp sense of smell, bushy tail, and an animal cleverness new to her, Karen Fox gets help from Mohl, a sheepherder. Meanwhile, at the hospital, her body is in a coma and her grandparents suffer as they wonder if she’ll ever come out of it. The story’s core takes place in the world of Mohl and the fox. Mohl senses that Karen Fox is exceptional, and their alliance grows as he finds his own world of herding sheep suddenly turned topsy-turvy. Stunned and on the run himself, he is wanted for crimes his long-dead father is accused of committing. In this place, somewhat akin to a medieval world with a matriarchal line of succession for the kingdom and a religion emphasizing the supernatural, the outlaws gradually become involved in a rebellion. All the time the clock is ticking as Mohl early on reveals that an arl left in animal shape longer than 24 days will die. With subtlety and style, Browne gradually makes this world complex and intricate, giving Karen a critical role to play as an arl—a creature visiting from another plane of existence. Watching the Queen move from one simultaneously existing level of reality to another provides just that sense of possibility, convincing readers that there is a logic to Karen’s ultimate choice. Karen must decide between returning to her body in our world or staying to help the rebels who have befriended her. Combining shapeshifting with a complexly realized fantasy world in a fast-paced plot, this would make an intriguing contrast to Rubenstein’s Foxspell (1996), which emphasized the experience of morphing. Clever and compelling. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-58234-759-X
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2002
A child’s-eye view written in beautifully spare prose gives a special quality to this historical piece. Marika Schnurmacher is six years old in 1934 Budapest, and she feels confused and helpless about many things. First, she arrives home from vacation to find that her father has walled off part of their apartment to live by himself. Although she sees him often, Marika longs for his return and can’t comprehend why he has left. She also can’t understand why the family’s Jewish name and heritage is such a worry to her father and uncle; they practice Catholicism, after all, and when she tries to ask questions about the whispers she hears about Germany, nobody will answer. Marika spends her childhood reading voraciously and writing a story—Little Lord Schnurmacher—that mixes her own life and hopes with classic literature. Shame about her family’s wealth and her odd mother hinders an outwardly peaceful relationship with working class, openly Jewish friend Zsofi. As years go by and WWII progresses, Marika loses her confusion—everything from war to family dynamics becomes painfully clear—but not her sparely written vulnerability. The last few chapters are about the family’s separation and Marika’s brief time in hiding, and then their reunion, pale and hungry, after Russian soldiers free Budapest from the Nazi occupation. Reading more like a series of vignettes than a novel, with a few distancing gaps in time and one distracting inconsistency (between the year and her age), Marika is a poignant emotional portrait. (Fiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2002
ISBN: 1-886910-78-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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