Egg and Spoon
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4.1 • 19 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In this tour de force, master storyteller Gregory Maguire offers a dazzling novel for fantasy lovers of all ages. Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been dead for years. One of her brothers has been conscripted into the Tsar’s army, the other taken as a servant in the house of the local landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in Saint Petersburg—a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena’s age. When the two girls’ lives collide, an adventure is set in motion, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and—in a starring role only Gregory Maguire could have conjured—Baba Yaga, witch of Russian folklore, in her ambulatory house perched on chicken legs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An imprisoned monk narrates this fabulist tale from Maguire, which draws inspiration from Russian folklore, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Twain's The Prince and the Pauper, while incorporating a modern thread about the threat of climate change. On her way to be presented to the Tsar's godson, wealthy Ekaterina is marooned in a rural village when a broken bridge stops her train. Peasant Elena approaches the luxurious train to beg, and the two girls take tentative steps toward friendship; when the train starts moving again, the wrong one is aboard. The journey to their eventual reunion brings Ekaterina in contact with legendary witch Baba Yaga. Though the setting is circa 1900, Maguire's riffs are mostly contemporary: Baba Yaga complains about regifting, owns the original cast recording from Damn Yankees, and bemoans that she's out of "Granny Yaga's Frozen Tater Tots, made from real tots." Like the matryoshka doll Elena carries, there are a lot of layers to Maguire's story. Rich, descriptive language will reward readers who like to sink their teeth into a meaty story. Ages 12 up.
Customer Reviews
Excellent Family Time Read
This was a really interesting, imaginative fun read. Dragon, witch, adventures galore. :) Everything takes place in Russia. It has a rich girl and peasant girl and a quest and more.
Eggcellent!
Having been a fan of Gregory Maguire since Wicked, I jumped at the opportunity to buy this book. It's a wonderful tale of friendship borne of hardship, and of faith in something better to come. Eggceptional!