Teen Tuesday

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan (Knopf hardcover, 11 September 2012).

Rollrock Island was bleak and isolated with but a  handful of families who'd lived there forever. Few left and even fewer came to visit.

Misskaela Prout was the youngest in her family.  She didn't look like her brother or sisters, and she didn't seem to be able to make any friends.  She didn't seem to mind her isolation, and often walked alone on the strand.

But one day, when she was nine years old, the seals seemed to recognize her as she walked on the beach, and when she woke up the next day, scores of seals surrounded her house.  They followed her to school, and everyone was alarmed.

An elderly neighbor sent her grandson to tell the Prouts that Misskaela should wear straps of cloth across her chest in the shape of an X.  Once she did this, the seals seemed to lose interest and went back to the sea.  But she knew that she had seen the human that existed inside a seal.

When she was a young woman, an awkward young man from the village came to her.  He told Misskaela that none of the local girls would show any interest in him, and asked her to call forth a woman from one of the seals to be his bride.

And so, Misskaela became the island's seal-witch, charging great sums of money to produce sea-wives for the young men of the island, helping to end the in-breeding that had gone on for so very long.

Margo Lanagan's unique approach to the ancient legend of the selkies, is at once amazing, wonderful and frightening.  Her prose is that of a venerable storyteller, whisking the reader to the windy, rocky island away in the northern waters.  The story is absorbing, affecting and alive, and will be enjoyed by all who enjoy well-written fantasy.



FTC full disclosure:  I picked up an advance reading copy of this book at ALA last June. 

Just finished reading...

The Body in the Sleigh by Katherine Hall Page.

This is (wow!) the eighteenth Faith Fairchild mystery. I've read them all, and I've enjoyed them all. There are not a lot of series one can say that about.

Faith's husband Tom is recovering from major surgery, and they've gone to their cottage on Sanpere Island, Maine for the Christmas holidays. Ben is now in middle school (I couldn't find his exact age, but if he's in Grade 6, he must be 11), and Amy is a couple of years younger. The community on Sanpere is even smaller and more tightly knit than Aleford's, and apart from the tourists, everyone seems to have been there forever.

Faith and the kids are touring the island's Christmas displays, and the last stop is at the Sanpere Historical Society, which has a display featuring an antique sleigh. Faith notices something odd about the mannequins in the sleigh, and goes to check it out. She's glad she left Ben and Amy in the car when she discovers that one of the three "mannequins" is really the body of a young woman.

Meanwhile, solitary goat-farmer Mary Bethany finds a baby in her barn on Christmas Eve, with a note asking her to raise him, and a bundle of cash. Knowing her reputation for solving puzzles, Mary enlists Faith's help to find the mother.

While the whole population of the island is aghast about the death of (it turns out) one of the local teens, few people besides Mary and Faith know about Mary's Christmas gift.

So despite the fact that Faith is holidaying on a remote Maine island, she's still very busy solving problems, which she does with her usual grace and tact.

Yes, I aspire to be Faith Fairchild, at least regarding her intelligence and social skills, as well as her culinary ability. I loved this book, and I hope Ms. Page keeps writing about Faith for a long, long time.