Maresi by Maria Turtschaninoff (review)

In this Finnish import, Maresi is one of the lucky girls at the Red Abbey because she comes from a family that loved her and sent her away to become a novice so she could have a better life. She is absorbing knowledge from the Sisters that she can eventually bring back to her village to help it, and she lives a work-filled but happy life, until it all threatens to come crashing down when a vengeful man intent on recapturing (and eventually killing) his daughter invades the protected island that houses the Abbey. Jai, the man’s daughter, had already told Maresi and her fellow nuns about her abusive family, so the Mother is prepared, enacting ancient rituals of Maiden, Mother, and Crone with the other Sisters to protect their home. While there is clearly an emphasis on feminism and female empowerment at the Abbey, it is within a larger societal structure that is built around, at least in some regions, stunning misogyny. Therefore the feminist acts are so constrained, so shaped around evil, that they read more as sacrificial rather than powerful. The fact that Maresi, our narrator, finds strength in isolation is contextually believable, however, and the genuine love between all of these women is life-sustaining and transformative. Readers seeking a fresh, unusual fantasy setting and voice will likely appreciate this haunting literary detour.