Young-adult book review of Black Snow Falling by L.J. MacWhirter
In 16th century England, an entitled girl, with mysterious recurring dreams is in love with a servant but her stepmother arranges a marriage for her. When he is unable to rescue her from this fate, her real and dream worlds becomes entangled as she fights for her dreams.
Goodreads Blurb
In 1592, a girl with spirit is a threat.
Ruth has secrets. An old book of heresy belonging to her long-absent father. A dream that haunts her. A love that she and Silas hide from the world.
When she is robbed of all she holds true, her friends from Crowbury slide into terrible danger. Hope is as faints as a moonbow. Dare Ruth trust the shadowy one who could destroy them all?
This is a story about hope overcoming evil, written with moral complexity. Ruth devastation breaks apart time. She sees that her hopes and dreams are a visceral halo of rainbow colours spinning to white… and that evil dream thieves are severing these halos from sleeping victims, many of whom she knows
My Thoughts after Reading
This YA urban fantasy is set in 1543 and 1592, about a girl’s a recurring dream, and when dreams and reality intertwine.
Ruth is the only child of an aristocratic, except he has gone away, leaving her stepmother in charge. Lately she’s been having a strange and sinister dream that would not go away. Her world falls apart when her stepmother wants to send her away and her secret love lets her down. She is too self-absorbed to worry about the strange ongoings in the village. When even her best friend couldn’t save her, she returns home doomed to a life of misery. The dream returns, but this time, when she wakes up and meets character and after character from the dream.
This is a magical read, whisking me back in time to the age of sails and the birth of renaissance. I enjoyed the connection to Henry VIII’s court and his reputation amongst the courtiers, having been married five times. I also liked the omniscient being, who bewilders Ruth with snippets of the future with her eg cognitive dissonance, the earth revolves around the sun.
The blurring of dream and reality reminds me of Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares. 4/5
Opening Line: Moonlight poured through the attic window above the candle-maker’s shop.
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Justine Laismith 