Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

An enjoyable book but I did have a few issues with it.

Miryem and her family are living a poor and harsh life in a small village in Russia. Her father is a moneylender, but a very bad one, and one day she decides to take over from her father as she feels she can do a better job. She quickly turns their fortunes around, as well as that of Wanda, the daughter of an abusive father who is even in worse straits then she is. She gains a reputation for making gold and gains the attention of a Staryk lord and also unwittingly draws in the faith of the entire kingdom.

By far the best parts of the book are to do with the Russian winter. I’m unsure what century this is supposed to be but I’d imagine late medieval. It seems brutal, and the thoughts of having to live your life like that really brings into focus how the world has changed in the last century or so. Novic really sells how cold it is and that hunger is ever present during the winter months, even for the relatively well off.

It is also a book of two halves. I loved the first part which had little to no supernatural elements to it. I wasn’t even sure initially if the Staryc, think of the Tuath de Danaan in Irish folklore, were real but as the story progresses it becomes obvious they are along with a few other things. Even when Miryem goes to the Staryc kingdom initially I was still really intrigued but then a choice was made, which seemed so completely out of character and seemed to happen to just serve the plot, that I almost stopped reading then and there. I did continue on but I didn’t enjoy it as much after.

It is still a good story. I liked how careful Miryem and her family have to be just because they are Jewish, it’s even harder for them in an already hard world. I also really felt for Irina’s governess Magreta, her whole life dependent on the whims and being seeing to be useful to the nobility. The Tsar seemed interesting initially but turned out to be a bit superficial in the end. It’s a real pity about that decision that somewhat ruined my enjoyment of it (I know this is pretty arbitrary but it is what it is), but there were still really enjoyable parts to this and I would recommend it to others.

3.5 stars rounded up