Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Spinning Silver

 Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, 465 pages.

Miryem is the daughter of a very incompetent moneylender, and the granddaughter of a very competent one. When her mother falls sick and there is no money to help her she decides to take over her father's business, and it turns out that she is very, very good at it. But her boasts of turning silver to gold attracts the attention of the Staryk King of Winter, who says that he will marry her if she can change his gold to silver trice, and kill her if she cannot. And this impossible task is just the beginning,  for both Miryem and the people pulled into her orbit.

This phenomenal book is roughly a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin (a specific genre that I have a soft spot for), but full of Eastern European folklore, Jewish custom, and just generally really good characters. I found it really hard to write a summary here because there's just SO MUCH in this book, and it's all so good. I've been meaning to read it for like three or four years and now I'm a little upset that I didn't get to it sooner. I would definitely recommend.


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