BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS
Shannon Hale
Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Fantasy/Action & Adventure
Hardcover: 9781599903784
Paperback: 9781599903781
336 pages

• Read an Excerpt

Dashti is only 15 years old when she is shut away in a tower with her mistress, the Lady Saren. Lady Saren’s father has decided that his disobedient daughter needs seven years to think on the error of her ways in refusing to marry the man he has chosen. Even though they are given ample food supplies in this dark prison, the girls are frightened and depressed over their hopeless situation. In order to keep her thoughts clear, the Mucker maid, Dashti, keeps an ongoing journal of their lonely days. It is her calm voice that pours light into their deadly monotony. She also fills her little book with lovely ink sketches depicting everything from the food they eat to the animals she loves.

Despite Dashti’s attempts to keep her mistress happy by singing healing songs and messaging her (being a Mucker she is a natural healer), Lady Saren can’t keep herself from falling into a state of paranoid fear and depression. Dashti feels that, by marrying the Lord Khasar, all of this could be averted and sometimes grows impatient with her Ladies’ stubborn silences. When Tegus Kahn (a young man the Lady Saren prefers) appears, Lady Saren forces Dashti to be her voice, and he unknowingly begins courting Dashti. The young man can only hear her voice and see her hand through a small opening in the tower; he gives her a cat to help in controlling the rats there. The cat, lovingly called “My Lord,” kills rats and becomes a great comfort to the maidens.

Their other visitor is the ruthless Lord Khasar. Lady Saren reacts with hysterical fear and again makes Dashti pretend to be her. When he cannot draw Lady Saren from the tower, Lord Khasar retaliates with cruelty --- throwing flaming sticks into their narrow window and unleashing a hellish wolf. In the life-and-death struggle that ensues, the cat attacks the wolf through the window, and suddenly both wolf and cat are gone.

Their eventual daring escape from the tower and the terrible devastation of the land around them (from the hands of Lord Khasar) takes them on a long and dangerous journey. Their biggest fear is that Lord Khasar will find them. There are secrets surrounding him that, when revealed, will even make the reader gasp. Dashti continues her patient and loving care of her mistress, trying to lead her to a safe haven. Sacrifices must be made, and many will be tested --- but will they be up to these challenges?

Shannon Hale has written a masterpiece of folklore and fairy tale based on an old Grimm’s fairy story. Rich in detail and language, Hale chooses a medieval Asian type of setting. Like her award-winning GOOSE GIRL, Dashti is a strong heroine who gives with love and honor. The Mucker maid’s journal of their “thousand days” is filled with unexpected turns, heartbreaks and the joy of victories over the greatest of odds.  This is another unforgettable book from one of today’s most outstanding YA writers.

    --- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts (stibbetts@maine207west.k12.il.us)

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