In The Wolf and the Woodsman, Évike is the only woman in her village without magical powers. The locals claim her corrupted bloodline is the problem: her father was a Yehuli man, a tax collector from the capitol. The king, who is consolidating his powers with pagan magic, sends the Woodsmen, a holy order, to collect a pagan girl who is a seer to augment his collection of magical powers. Rather than give up a valued girl with powers, the villagers betray both Évike and the Woodsmen by giving her up instead. The Woodsmen are attacked by monsters en route to the capital, leaving only Évike and the one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen alive. This Woodsman is actually Prince Gáspár Bárány, who fears his younger brother is plotting to overthrow his father and unleash terror across the land by killing all who do not profess to the Patrifaith, including those with magic and Jews. The two survivors must join forces to survive other monsters, the frigid tundra and the politics of the capital.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is a delightful combination of Hungarian and Jewish folklore with some nation-building tossed in. Cultural genocide, religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, and the aggressive use of propaganda to achieve those goals lie at the core of the book. Beneath the fairy tale coating is a rather realistic representation of the marginalization and oppression that occurred with Jews and other ethnoreligious minorities before and during World War II. Évike and her Woodsman must decide on which side of the conflict they lie and how to achieve their goals of putting down the Patrifaith and bringing equality to their country’s various ethnicities. So, despite the fairy tale aspect, this is an adult book with a bit of sexuality, though it might be suitable for appropriate older high-school students.
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The Wolf and the Woodsman (Harper Voyager, June 8, 2021) is available through:
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You can read my review of a similar book here:
The Dollmaker of Krakow by R.M. Romero
A similar book I read and loved but didn’t get around to reviewing:
The Year the Swans Came by Barbara Spencer
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