When their Ukrainian grandmother is lost on a trans-Atlantic Flight, two sisters are swept into a quest across eastern Europe to find the woman who had always told more tales than truths.
From Poland to Slovakia to Hungary and beyond, Larissa and Ira navigate the steps of Ukrainian folk dance, the cliff-side paths of Slovak Paradise National Park, and the stark realities of war, folktales, and feminism, all for the sake of chasing who they’re starting to believe is a true Baba Yaga. Understanding their family’s roots has never been more clear.
The setting’s mythic properties drift like ghosts in the humid air, hinting of the folktales the sisters whisper like codes of bravery. The nesting dolls they discover reveal how each woman becomes stronger when tucked one, within another, within another—forgetting lies and truths to seize upon history, love, and the familial traditions that have shaped them into who they are together.
Review by Brandy
I received this book.
Kris Spisak wrote her first book, Get a Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused (Career Press, 2017; HarperCollins India 2020), to help writers of all kinds sharpen their storytelling and empower their communications. Her “Words You Should Know” podcast, Grammartopia® events, and Story Stop Tour programs follow the same mission, as do her second and third books, The Novel Editing Workbook (Davro Press, 2020) and The Family Story Workbook (Davro Press, 2020). Kirkus Reviews called her debut novel, The Baba Yaga Mask (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2022), “A complex, poetic tale.”
Kris has been spotlighted in Writer’s Digest and The Huffington Post for her work as an editor and author dedicated to helping other writers. When not researching, writing, teaching, or editing, she can often be found going on hiking trips in the Appalachians, sneaking off to the Gulf coast beaches of Florida, and travelling as much as she can.