The Bear and the Nightingale

US Cover

***The Bear and the Nightingale*** is a historical fantasy novel written by Katherine Arden. It is Arden's debut novel, and the first novel in the Winternight Trilogy. *The Bear and the Nightingale* is set in medieval Russia and incorporates elements of Russian folklore. The central character is a young girl, Vasya Petrovna, who is able to communicate with mythological creatures, at a time when Orthodox Christianity is attempting to stamp out all belief in such beings.

The book was first published on January 10, 2017 by Del Rey Books and has since been translated into 15 languages.

## Summary

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn't mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse's fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa's mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa's new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa's stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse's most frightening tales.

*The Bear and the Nightingale* is a magical debut novel from a gifted and gorgeous voice. It spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent.

## Plot

### Epigraph

> "*By the shore of the sea stands a green oak tree;
> Upon the tree is a golden chain:
> And day and night a learned cat
> Walks around on the chain;
> When he goes to the right he sings a song,*When he goes to the left he tells a tale.*"
> —A.S. Pushkin*
>
>

### Part 1

> "*Tell the story of Frost, Dunyashka. Tell us of the frost-demon, the winter-king Karachun. He is abroad tonight, and angry at the thaw.*"
> —Marina Ivanovna
>
>

The novel begins with an introduction of Pyotr Vladimirovich's household. Pyotr is a Russian boyar, the lord of a remote village, Lesnaya Zemlya, on the outskirts of the forests. His wife, Marina Ivanovna, the daughter of the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan I, and their four children, Kolya, Sasha, Olga and Alyosha are huddled around the kitchen oven being told the story of the frost-demon by their housekeeper and nanny, Dunya. This story tells the tale of Morozko, the frost king. Once the children have fallen asleep, Marina makes her way to her bedroom where she informs her husband, Pyotr, that she is once again pregnant. This poses an issue to the family because Marina is not expected to live through another pregnancy. However, she is determined to see through the birth of her fifth child because she can sense that this daughter will have powers that Marina's mother is believed to have had. To her family's grief, she indeed dies in childbirth, and her daughter is named Vasilisa, nicknamed Vasya.

As Vasya grows older, she begins to spend more time in the forest. However, while she is exploring one day, she comes across an unusual tree that she does not recognise. At the foot of this tree lays a man with a missing eye. Before he can take an interest in her, another strange man on a horse arrives warning Vasya to leave and instructing the one-eyed man to go back to sleep because it is still winter. Vasya gets lost in the woods and is found by her older brother Sasha who is out with the search party looking for her. Once Sasha and Vasya return home, Sasha warns his father that Vasya needs a mother to look after and raise her. Pytor takes on this advice and travels to Moscow, taking Kolya and Sasha with him.

While in Moscow, Sasha meets a local monk who makes a good impression and returns to ask his father if he can leave and spend his time at the Christian monastery. Pyotr makes a deal with his son that he can only go if he agrees to stay at home for one more year so that he is sure of his decision and not swayed by the monk. Pyotr is also successful in finding a wife for himself. The Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan II, presents his young daughter, Anna Ivanovna, to Pyotr. Anna also has the ability to see mythological creatures, however is convinced that they are devils and that she is being punished by God. As a result, there are whispers from others living in the castle that she is either a witch or crazy, so the Grand Prince sees this as a way to get her out of the public eye.

After making their way back to Lesnaya Zemlya, Pyotr also informs his daughter Olga of his success in finding her a husband in Moscow and that Anna is now their step mother. Once Anna realises that Vasya can also see the creatures, but is not afraid of them, she becomes convinced that Vasya is a witch on the side of evil and when the new, young and handsome priest, Konstantin Nikonovich, arrives they plan to ensure that every individual in Lesnaya Zemlya is convinced of Christianity and turns their backs on folklore and traditions of leaving offerings for little creatures believed to be safe guarding their village from the evil bear, Medved. However, in doing this, the creatures soon disappear as their offerings deplete and Lesnaya Zemlya is left defenseless. Meanwhile, Medved has been released and has convinced Konstantin that he is the voice of God. Konstantin, convinced that God is giving him his orders directly, agrees to Medved's demands to sacrifice a witch. While Pyotr is away, Konstantin and Anna hatch a plan to send Vasya to a convent by convincing the village people that she is a witch. However, in the midst of all the madness that arises, Vasya escapes into the forest, where she is taken under the wing of Morozko, the frost demon, who then reveals that he is the brother of Medved and is tasked with keeping him locked up for as long as he can. While in the care of Morozko, Vasya meets Solovey, an intelligent horse, with whom she bonds.

Meanwhile, Medved has realised that Vasya has been taken in by Morozko and convinces Konstantin to persuade Anna to follow him into the forest. Once he does this, Medved reveals himself to Konstantin as the evil bear and kills Anna, wholly resolving him of his shackles. Despite this, Pyotr appears in the forest and offers himself to Medved in place of Vasya. This sacrifice once again bounds Medved, returning him to endless slumber beneath the unusual tree. As the novel concludes, Vasya convinces her brother, Alyosha, that she must leave and allow him to establish himself as a man among men and that her presence will only affect him negatively, being a witch-woman. She and Solovey ride into the forest and she finds Morozko in his home.

## Publication

The Bear and the Nightingale was released in early January 2017, followed by the sequel *The Girl in the Tower*, which was released in December 2017. The final novel of the series, *The Winter of the Witch*, was released in January 2019. The series is being published by Del Rey, an imprint of Penguin Random House Company. The Bear and the Nightingale was awarded Amazon's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2017 and nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fantasy 2017 and Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Goodreads Author 2017.

The Bear and the Nightingale has also been published in paperback, hardcover, ebook and audio editions. Official translations include Bulgarian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian, Persian, Spanish, Turkish, Chinese, Czech and Russian.

## Reception

*The Bear and the Nightingale* has been received positively by critics and reviewers. Publishers Weekly claimed “The stunning prose (“The blood flung itself out to Vasya’s skin until she could feel every stirring in the air”) forms a fully immersive, unusual, and exciting fairy tale that will enchant readers from the first page" Similarly, the *Washington Post* applauded the novel: “The novel is deceptively simple, but its characters and plot are sophisticated and complex. Arden explores what happens when fear and ignorance whip people into a furor, and how society can be persuaded to act against its own interests so easily”.

Some critics were disappointed with the later chapters of the book. In an otherwise glowing review, fantasy writer and critic Amal El-Mohtar finds fault in the book's conclusion, for a "mishmash of affect and style, and an ending that undercuts much of its former power." Similarly, writer and book reviewer Caitlyn Paxson finds that "plot decisions and character developments veer down the path of least resistance" in the end of a book she would still "happily recommend."