Spinning Silver is Naomi Novik’s follow-up to Uprooted, a book that I read last summer and loved. It’s easy to say that I loved this book, too. Rather than one heroine, it has three.
Spinning Silver takes place in Lithvas, a small country beset by ever worsening winters, the type that linger long into spring and ruin crops. They aren’t natural winters, either. The cold is caused by the Staryk (strange ice-people). The Staryk use the cold to enter Lithvas from their world and raid it for its gold. Everyone fears them and it seems that nothing can be done to halt their advance.
The first heroine in Spinning Silver is Miryem Mandelstam , the daughter of a money lender too kind-hearted to collect what is owed. She’s tired of barely getting by while others live in comfort with her father’s money. She’s tired of being looked at with suspicion, at best, for being Jewish.
Miryem, tired of sitting idly by, takes over her father’s books and quickly turns them around. She sets up payment schedules. Those who can’t pay in coin instead pay in goods which Miryem sells at the market. She quickly gains a reputation for spinning copper into silver and silver into gold.
The second heroine is Wanda. She is the daughter of a violent drunk and gambler, so deep in debt that there is no chance he will ever pay it off. Wanda goes to work for Miryem’s family in lieu of paying off her father’s debt.
She doesn’t mind the work. As long as she’s working for the Mandelstams her father can’t sell her as a wife for a pig or goat. Intimidated at first, Wanda begins to flourish from their kindness. Mireym even teaches her how to read and do math to help with the business.
The third heroine is Irina, the daughter of a general turned duke. Plain of face, she is mostly ignored in favor of her younger half-brothers. It’s doubted that she can even cement a marriage to aid her father’s ambitions. Irina has some Staryk blood on her mother’s side, just enough to enhance the power that she has within her. Irina’s strategic mind is every bit as shrewd as her father’s.
Each young woman finds themselves in an unusual and challenging situation. Miryem is taken by the Staryk King and made to turn his silver into gold. She can do it for real, transmuting the actual metals, not just through well-made deals. Irina is quickly married to the tsar, Mirnatius, a strange young man surrounded by dark magic. Wanda is forced to flee after her father attacks her.
Each young woman also finds the strength to help themselves. Miryem finds strength in unexpected friends. Irina in her intelligence and newfound influence. And, Wanda in her growing confidence and the work of her own hands. They need every drop of their strength because Lithvas is in serious trouble and all of them need to do their part to end the threat.
There are no maidens waiting for rescue here. The female characters are the primary movers of events. The supporting women are strong too. Miryem’s mother’s generosity, Irina’s servant Magreta’s devotion, and even a scullery-maid with a well timed bucket contribute to the resolution of the story.
The story has six narrators. Along with the three heroines, the tsar, Magreta, and Wanda’s youngest brother also alternate telling the story. I like each narrator and think they all add something unique to the story. My only issue was sometimes it took a couple of sentences to realize who’s turn it was to speak. (Certainly, a very minor problem.)
The fiber artist in me can’t end this review without mentioning that there is actual spinning in the story, too. Mrs. Madelstam has a spinning wheel and both Wanda and Magreta spin on a drop spindle. (This looks like a toy top.)
Wanda also spends time knitting an elaborate bed cover. It brings her a lot of pride to be able to figure out the pattern and write it down. I would have loved if an actual pattern had been included in with the story, so that I could try to replicate some of it. I may still try as knitted fan art is a favorite of mine.
Have you read Spinning Silver? What did you think?
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