VVMBookBlog

Sometimes when I read some of our historical fiction books, it’s hard to believe the things that are happening to people right in my own time and world.  I hear or read stories in the news but that doesn’t bring our attention to peoples’ lives like hearing from the people themselves.

This book begins when Ling is 9 years old and it’s based on actual experiences from the author’s own life.  Chairman Mao Zedong, leader of China, launched the Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s as a way to gain power by eliminating differences in classes of people, especially the wealthier classes–called the bourgeoisie–who were the doctors, lawyers, professors and others.  Since Ling’s parents were both medical doctors, her family was under suspicion, especially because they had been in contact with doctors from the United States.

When party leader Comrade Li takes over a room in their home as his own apartment, things become very uncomfortable for Ling’s family and their friends.  Their homes are ransacked, valuables are taken, and some doctors disappear from the hospital.  And it’s all done in obediance to their leader, Chairman Mao.  These incidents are frightening for everyone but especially for Ling who had grown up very protected and privileged.  Within a couple years they are forced to live with limited food, fuel and freedom.

The action in the book took place in the years 1972-76 but I can’t help but make comparisons with what happened with the Nazis in Germany in the early 1940’s.  And, unfortunately, similar things are most likely happening in our world right now.  Why can’t we figure these things out?

I wasn’t sure about this book because I thought it was going to be like Goose Girl, also by this author, and Goose Girl just got a little long for me.  But, it’s very different!  It’s based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm called Maid Maleen, but the story is placed in a setting like today’s Mongolia, a central Asian country located in the mountains and steppes between Russia and China.

Lady Saren, a young girl from a wealthy family, is in love with Khan Tegus from another realm, but her father has promised her to evil Lord Khasar in a marriage for his political gain.  When Lady Saren refuses go with Lord Khasar, her father condemns her to 7 years locked inside a brick tower.  Fortunately for Lady Saren, shortly before being sentenced to the tower, orphaned “mucker” Dashti has come into the village seeking employment and ends up as Lady Saren’s maid.  So they go to the tower together, along with 7 years of food and water.

Of course, things don’t go well in the tower.  Lady Saren gets depressed (who wouldn’t?), the food starts to rot, and then the rats come!  Their only access to the outside world is a 6-inch square through which fresh milk and “waste products” can be passed in and out.  And…visitors can communicate with them, including both Lord Khasar and Khan Tegus.  But what do they have to say and who does the talking back to them–Lady Saren or Dashti?

Without telling too much of the story, I’ll say that they do get out of the tower before the 7 years are up, but that’s when another whole story begins–and I had to read it to the end!  Animals with special powers, people with weird powers, kingdoms at war, and of course, a fairy tale romance.  Great story!!