Set in Norway in the 1500s, this is a classic fairy tale, based on the “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” story. It is essentially a Nordic take on “Beauty and the Beast.” (I found a version of it online at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/norway034.html). The novel begins with an utterly superfluous “I found the box in the attic of an old farmhouse in Norway” prologue. I think Pattou must have just finished reading Hawthorne when she started writing East and then forgot all about it by the end, because we never return to the “I” of the prologue. There is an “Acknowledgements” section at the end of the novel, but it doesn’t carry on with the box in the attic device—refutes it in fact, since Pattou goes to great lengths to thank her librarians, editors, and talk about her research. The novel is written from different perspectives (Rose, Neddy, White Bear, Troll Queen, and Father) but, excepting Rose and Neddy, these perspectives seem a bit unnecessary—especially considering the prologue. I really doubt the Troll Queen kept a diary, and if she did it was buried along with her under a mountain of ice.
Enough nitpicking—the charm of the novel lies in the additions it brings to its fairy tale premise. Rose is taken from her family and must stay with White Bear for a year without seeing him in his human form to lift his enchantment. Of course, she peeks and White Bear is whisked away to the far north to become the bridegroom of the Troll Queen. Rose must then give chase across storm tossed seas and Artic wasteland to save the creature she loves. Pattou tempers the fairy tale element with great details about weaving, mapmaking, Viking ships, and Inuit survival techniques. Thus we have a novel of both magic and pragmatism—the Trolls survive in the far north by drinking a magic brew called slank, while the Inuit pile on layers of hides and feather underwear and depend upon tools like the “kitchoa, or ice scratcher, made of seal claws and used by hunters to simulate the sound of seals moving across the ice, so that while at their breathing holes they would not be frightened away by approaching hunters” (336). Marvelously, Pattou manages to relate technical descriptions like the former in a novel with a magic curse as its major plot impetus, and the story never feels uneven. Moreover, Rose is likable and tough throughout—not one of your typical simpering fairy tale damsels.

This was a book on the state's list of books, so being a part of my school's book club at the time I picked it up. It was really good, it took on a totally different story then I was expecting to find. This a book that I had managed to look over for along time. I believe it should have been more advertised, it was really good.

I really enjoyed this folktale.