Charlotte Kersten

“She does not know how to feel safe.” As I said it I knew it was true. “We will have to teach her how.”

Year published: 2014

Categories: YA, fantasy

LGBTQIA representation: M/M, minor side character

Summary: Maresi came to the Red Abbey when she was thirteen, in the Hunger Winter. Before then, she had only heard rumours of its existence in secret folk tales. In a world where girls aren’t allowed to learn or do as they please, an island inhabited solely by women sounded like a fantasy. But now Maresi is here, and she knows it is real. She is safe.

Then one day Jai tangled fair hair, clothes stiff with dirt, scars on her back arrives on a ship. She has fled to the island to escape terrible danger and unimaginable cruelty. And the men who hurt her will stop at nothing to find her.

Now the women and girls of the Red Abbey must use all their powers and ancient knowledge to combat the forces that wish to destroy them. And Maresi, haunted by her own nightmares, must confront her very deepest, darkest fears.

My Thoughts: Exported from Finland, Maresi is a wonderfully fresh and different take on YA fantasy. It is told in spare, elegant language and a great deal of its plot involves the simple, quiet day-to-day life of the girls in the Red Abbey. This ended up being great for me, because my favorite parts of the book were these descriptions – the food, the beauty of the island, the comfort of the daily routines, the library full of books, the snails, and all of the sisters and novices. You truly feel the peace and tranquility of the Red Abbey and what a special place it is.

The book deals elegantly with the newcomer Jai’s inner turmoil and gradual unfurling as she adapts to life on the island. It rings very true that she latches on to Maresi but doesn’t truly know how to interact with her and lashes out at her because she identifies her as someone safe. Their relationship is so good, overall, and I also appreciate that she ends up supporting Maresi when she is struggling later.

I love that one of the central ideas of the book is that knowledge is power, especially to those who are denied it because of oppression. The Red Abbey is technically a refuge for women, but they help anyone who is persecuted, including men; this is one point of slight nuance in the book’s take on gender, which I did find to be a touch reductive in other areas. I think the book leans into the territory of reverencing Women’s Mystical Power as something inherent to women that makes them innately different from men – this, of course, makes me think of Tehanu and Le Guin’s take-down of that particular trope.

The villains are also cartoonishly evil pedophilic rapists who get washed away in a flood of blood. There is one man who isn’t bad and he turns out to be gay; I think this scene functions to show how patriarchy traps men (especially men who somehow fail to live up to a perfect masculine standard) as well as women. It’s also really telling that Jai’s sister was perfectly compliant with her land’s oppressive standards for women but was killed by her father anyways for an imagined transgression – her compliance didn’t save her in the end, and those who rebel and those who comply both suffer under patriarchy. Overall, though, I could have used a bit more nuance.

This is a powerful and unique little book, and I’m sold on finishing the trilogy. The next book in the series, Naondel, looks to be a prequel that focuses on the women who established the Red Abbey, and I’m really looking forward to reading it.