Anastasia, Baba Yaga, and Fairy Tales

I had intended to write up this post yesterday as a companion to my post about A Long, Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka since both use Baba Yaga in their storytelling. But I never returned to my computer, so this becomes a Halloween post instead.

Dreaming Anastasia: A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams by Joy Preble was released in September of this year, so this is a little late. It only entered my radar when Publishers Weekly reviewed it a few weeks ago and then entered my queue of books to learn more about. Here's the publisher's description:

What really happened to Anastasia Romanov?

Anastasia Romanov thought she would never feel more alone than when the gunfire started and her family began to fall around her. Surely the bullets would come for her next. But they didn't. Instead, two gnarled old hands reached for her. When she wakes up she discovers that she is in the ancient hut of the witch Baba Yaga, and that some things are worse than being dead.

In modern-day Chicago, Anne doesn't know much about Russian history. She is more concerned about getting into a good college—until the dreams start. She is somewhere else. She is someone else. And she is sharing a small room with a very old woman. The vivid dreams startle her, but not until a handsome stranger offers to explain them does she realize her life is going to change forever. She is the only one who can save Anastasia. But, Anastasia is having her own dreams…

You can read more about the book on Preble's website, too.

Once again, I haven't read the book--don't own it yet either--but I am interested in the inclusion of Baba Yaga as one of the characters. I've been a fan ever since reading Orson Scott Card's Enchantment years ago which married the Sleeping Beauty story to Baba Yaga tales among others.

It can easily be argued that the tales of Anastasia's possible survival have taken on mythical qualities, especially with the help of several movies and various books over the years. The story, shrouded in the mystery of royalty, communist secrets, and a long and rich Russian folklore, easily eclipsed tales of the missing Dauphin or even the princes in the tower, mysteries that have diminished in popularity over time. After all, the story has even received the animated film treatment from Don Bluth, not from Disney, but Disneyesque all the same. Throw in the sensational qualities of Rasputin's character along with the photographs of the royal family in their fairy tale setting and the story is understandably irresistable in its tragic romance.


Of course, all tales of Anastasia's possible survival have now been discredited. Anastasia died with her family and was buried with her brother. Was anyone else saddened when Anastasia's body was finally found and identified near her family's mass grave last year? I was. The romance of her legend was moved permanently into the dark reality of murder and horror. Although there was little doubt previously, there was hope and there was storytelling to keep the fantasy alive. Still, with books like these, the story will remain a dark fairy tale with a sad coda in history's records.

But especially in light of last year's findings--and as proof perhaps of the slow churning of the publishing industry--it has been an interesting year for promoting Anastasia novels as fairy tales considering this book and Simon Pulse's offering Anastasia up as a "retelling" earlier this year in their Once Upon a Time Series with The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn. The timing is apropos as the tales are firmly settled into folklore by last year's events.

So I am sharing the image and description for this book, too, as a companion read. I am a compulsive reader myself and tend to look for similar books to read back-to-back. (Never would have guessed that with a site like SurLaLune, huh?)

A Retelling of "Anastasia"

Nadya is a mischievous kitchen girl in a Russian tavern. Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember.

Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya's long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love -- and betrayal.

And that's all about fairy tales, Anastasia, and Baba Yaga for now...