Her stepmother wants to marry her off or confine her in a convent. It is up to Vasya to save the town as well as escape from her stepmother’s clutches. As the spirits lose influence, bad spirits gain power and the destruction of the town looms nearer and nearer. Vasya senses unease as bad events follow suit. Her new stepmother is not a fan of old rituals and thus, they are stopped. And as she acts out, her father remarries. Vasya is unlike most kids as she can see spirits. Marina passes away in childbirth as Vasilisa is born, who is given the nickname Vasya. But Marina plans to go through with the pregnancy because she believes that this child will have powers that Marina’s mother has possessed. Marina and Pyotr have been told that Marina won’t survive another pregnancy. Sitting around the nanny are Pyotr, his wife Marina Ivanovna who is the daughter of the grand prince in Moscow, and there four kids Kolya, Sasha, Olga and Alyosha.Īfter the story ends and the children are fast asleep, Marina tells Pyotr that she pregnant. The story starts in his house as Dunya, the housekeeper, is telling the story of Morocco, the frost king. Pyotr Vladimirovich is a Russian boyar, meaning he is the lord of the remote village Lesnaaya Zemlya. Read our book review and find out why you need to add it to your reading list! The Bear and the Nightingale Summary

It is a tale infused with Russian mythology captured brilliantly with great writing. A book that I read and fell in love with instantly was The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden.

The bear and the nightingale book