East

This is a retelling of the classic fairy tale, and it’s a world that I love to disappear into year after year. East challenged me to see beyond the surface of my circumstances and gave a glimpse of the treasure that was only waiting for me to have the eyes to see it. It’s the book that convinced me that the reality of grief wasn’t the end of my family’s story.

A retelling of the Norwegian fairytale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon”, East—also called North Child—is the book that introduced me to this fairytale, and is still one of my absolute favorites. It follows the story of Rose, whose superstitious mother insists she’s an “East” child, not a wild and unpredictable “North” child. When Rose agrees to go and live with a talking white bear to save her family from poverty, she finds herself in a magical house, and is strangely drawn to the white bear. Told in alternating POVs—including one from the Bear, which… show more.