East (novel)

East (also known as North Child in the UK and Australia) is a 2003 novel by the author Edith Pattou. It is an adaptation of an old Norwegian folk tale entitled "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" and is an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults. The novel is written in a style similar to that of Brian Jacques, including the use of a change in point of view in each chapter.

Plot summary

When Arne married the superstitious Eugenia, he agreed to have seven children with her, one for each point of the compass, excluding North, which she believed to be wild and uncontrollable. Her favourite child, East-born Elise, died young and Eugenia had another child to replace her. But Rose, because of an accident, is actually a North-born child. Eugenia was told years before by a skjebne-soke (fortune teller) that any North Child she had would die crushed beneath an avalanche with ice and snow.

Rose grows up believing herself to be an East baby like her dead sister, but is unhappy that she is expected to be a replacement for Elise. Nonetheless she could not curb her adventurous North-born nature, shown through her experiences when she was very young. Once, she fell into a river and was rescued by a mysterious white bear, who watched her ever afterward. Since then, the adventurous Rose imagined that she could go on adventures around the world, riding on the back of a white bear. In time, she also became an accomplished weaver.

The once-prosperous family farm becomes less profitable over the years, and Rose's sister Sara lay dying with no medicine to cure her. The family's hope fades, until one evening, the white bear appears and asks that he be allowed to take Rose. If they agree, the family would no longer be poor and the sick daughter would be made well. He gives them seven days to decide, but Rose's father is already determined he will not give her up. Rose's mother is excited by the promises of the White Bear and tries to persuade her husband to agree to his bargain. Rose overhears their arguments and learns that she is not an East, but a North child. She knows her destiny is to go wth the white bear, and so she prepares in secret to leave. When the white bear returns a week later, she goes with him. Though her father and brother try to stop her, her mother tells them to leave her. "It is her direction. Her choice."

The White Bear takes Rose to a hidden castle in the mountains of Fransk (France,) where she lives for months on end with a two mysterious servants, a woman and her son who are both pale with rough skin and a strange language. She later discovers that they are Trolls. She passes the time by weaving or learning to play musical instruments which she found in the castle, but she never goes outside. At night, she has a mysterious visitor who comes into her room and lies in the bed beside her, but a mysterious enchantment takes hold and she cannot see or even speak to him. She thinks it is the white bear, but without his fur, since he always shivers at night. So she makes a nightshirt for him out of fur he shed. Just in case her "visitor" wasn't a white bear but in fact human, she pinned a brooch of a flauto (flute) to the night shirt. She is not sure why she was brought to the castle and tries to find some answers from the younger troll, Tuki. They gradually learn the other's language by pointing to different objects and saying its name in their own language. Rose tries to ask Tuki about the white bear, if he is the one who sleeps in her bed at night, and who he is, but he can't or won't tell her. Rose becomes increasingly frustrated at not knowing what her reason for being in the castle is, and begins to be homesick. The white bear reluctantly allows her to return home for a visit. Just before he leaves her, he warns her against speaking alone with her mother or telling her family too much about her time in the castle. Rose does, however, under pressure from her favortie brother Neddy, tell him about her nighttime visitor, when they are alone and she thinks no one else will hear. Rose's mother, however, was eavesdropping, and later gives Rose an enchanted candle to use. When Rose returns to the castle, she is tormented by nightmares where she sees her visitor at last, only to find that he is a monster or demon. Her curiosity overcomes her and she uses the candle; she sees the face of a young man lying beside her. In her shock, she wakes him as she spills tallow onto his shirt. At once, the castle disappears and Rose is left alone with the young man. He explains that he was stolen from his home by the Queen of the Trolls and changed into a white bear by her angry father. If he could find a young maiden who would live with him for a year without seeing his human face, he would have been free. Now he must go with the Troll Queen forever to a place "East of the sun and West of the moon". He gives her a ring before being swept away by a white sleigh. Rose is determined to find and save him. Her journey takes her through Fransk (France) all the way up to the Arctic, in search of the place that is East of the sun and West of the Moon. At last, she arrives at the Palace of the Trolls, Niflheim. She works as a servant for many months, before she learns that the white bear is to marry the Troll Queen. With the help of the Troll boy from the castle, Tuki, she disguises herself and approaches the white bear at the wedding feast, trying to get him to remember her. But his memory has been all but erased from the poison the Troll Queen has been feeding him, and Rose flees the city, believing him to truly love the Troll Queen. When she reaches the outskirts of the city, she discovers many frozen corpses in a field called kentta murha. It is where softskins (human servants) are turned out to die in the cold when they are no longer useful. Realizing at last the true meausure of the Troll Queen's cruelty, Rose knows that the white bear cannot truly love her. She turns back to the city and hides among the guests at the wedding. By now, the White Bear has remembered Rose and how to escape the Troll Queen. He asks his bride, the Queen, to wash a shirt for him, saying that in his homeland whoever could complete the task would be fit to be his wife. He produces the shirt that Rose spilt tallow on. The Queen cannot clean it, even with her arts, and so Rose is allowed to try. She succeeds, but the Queen, in her fury, kills Tuki with a blast of the sun's heat, and the ice palace begins to collapse. The Queen dies in the collapse, and most of the trolls are apparently killed as well. Rose is only saved when the white bear pulls her under a stronger section of ice that shields them from the falling ice. Rose and the white bear free all the "softskin" slaves and begin their journey home. On the way, the white bear reveals that he cannot remember who he was before he was changed. He has realized that he loves Rose, but thinks that she will not accept him until he can at least know who he is. He returns to the castle in the mountain, where Rose finds him. She tells him at last that she loves him, and he reveals his name to her, Prince Charles Pierre Philippe. They are married, and have four children. The oldest is named Tuki. It is also revealed that they have a child named Nena who, like Rose, is also a north born.

Characters

Rose

A North born child, wild and adventurous. The protagonist of the story, an independent young girl with a wanderlust and curiosity that is surpassed by few. She was prophesied to die, crushed under snow and ice. She was set to be an East-born by her mother Eugenia, but it didn't turn out as planned. Despite this, Eugenia calls her Ebba, because she was "facing East when the birthing began." Her name that her father secretly calls her by is Nyamh.

Charles/Myk/White Bear

A prince who is stolen from his home by the Troll Queen and transformed into the White Bear. A mystical, intelligent bear, who whisks Rose away to a magnificent castle. He has several names throughout this book though his real name is Charles. Later, becomes Rose's husband and an inventor.

Neddy Wilfrid

Rose's elder brother, a North-West child. He is the youngest son of Arne and Eugenia and the second youngest child. He is a bit more conservative than Rose, and loves his youngest sister deeply.

Arne/Father

Rose's father, a mapmaker. Said to be a Southeast-born.

Eugenia

Rose's mother, A very superstitious East-born woman. Arne worked for her grandfather.

Troll Queen

The antagonist, who lives in the north pole/the land of the dead. A jealous queen who falls in love with Charles and steals him from his home. Her name is said to be "Kattal" and her eyes are mentioned to be green.

Tuki

A Troll boy who makes friend's with Rose and helps her find Charles. One of Rose's children is named after him at the end of the book.

Urda

Tuki's mother and servant of the mountain castle.

Malmo

A shaman woman who helps Rose find the Troll city.

Harald Soren

Mostly referred to as Soren or Master Soren, who owned the family's house. He appears to take away Rose's family's house when Rose leaves, but when he discovers that Arne is a fantastic mapmaker, they set up a business together, which Eugenia claims is "because of Rose's sacrifice". He marries Sara.

Sofi

A French woman living outside the mountain castle.

Estelle

Sofi's daughter, who befriends Rose.

Thor

A drunken captain with a love for ale who helps Rose reach the North.

Gest and Goran

Two sailors who work for Thor. When a storm comes, Goran and Gest are thrown overboard. Goran drowns, but Gest survives, and is one of the sources that helps Neddy, Soren and Arne find Rose.

Sara

Rose's older sister who gets sick, a South-born. She marries Harald Soren.

Nena

One of Rose's children at the end of the book. She was a North-born, just like her mother.

Elise

Rose's older (and deceased) sister, who was an East-born, like Eugenia. She died when she was eight, before Rose was born. She was her mother's favorite, and Eugenia tried to make Rose an East-born to replace her.

Nils Erlend

Rose's oldest brother, the first born. He was a Northeast-born. He moved to Danemark (Denmark).

Selme Eva

Rose's oldest sister, after Elise's death. She was a Southeast-born. She married an ironworker and moved to a distant Njord (Norway) village.

Sonja Wende

Another of Rose's older sisters, a Southwest-born.

Willem

Rose's second-to-youngest brother (before Neddy). He was a West-born. When the family moved to Trondheim, he stayed behind.

Master Mogens

The man who worked for Harald Soren, and made the decision to take away Rose's family's house.

External links

• http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/edith-pattou/