She has several encounters with a powerful, mysterious man with several names and identities, including that of a stranger that gave Pyotr a pendant to give to the young Vasya on his behalf. Meanwhile, Vasya undergoes a years-long process of awakening to herself and her abilities. The fervent and arrogant Konstantin soon strikes the fear of God into those who still believe in the spirits: Vasya, however, fights him every step of the way, leading him into a complex net of feelings for her – resentment, desire, anger, and a hunger to control.
When a passionate, attractive young priest (Konstantin) arrives, to take over the responsibility for ministering to Pyotr’s family and the villagers for whom he is landlord and governor, Anna quickly seeks his help in both banishing the spirits and convincing those in the community who still believe in them to disavow their presence and importance. While Anna can see the same spirits that Vasya does, the deeply religious Anna sees them as demons. The remarriage of Vasya’s father Pyotr to the emotionally unstable Anna changes Vasya’s life significantly. As Vasya matures, Marina’s beliefs about her seem to be coming true: the independent and adventurous girl communicates with spirits both of the household and of the woods, spirits whose existence and presence have been traditionally honored by individuals and the community for centuries.
The novel begins with a description of the circumstances of Vasya’s birth – specifically, of her being born in mid-winter, into a family with four other children, and to an unusual mother who died shortly after giving birth to a much longed-for daughter, one who Marina believed would be as spiritually and mystically endowed as her own mother, the first wife of the Russian Grand Prince. In addition to following Vasya’s story from her point of view, the narrative also frequently diverts into the points of view of other characters, making the development of the story and its themes multi-faceted, complex, and suspenseful. The narrative spans a period of almost two decades in the life and maturation of Vasya, the daughter of an established landowner and his aristocratic, mystic wife. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Arden, Katherine.
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