Award-winning Rachel Hartman's newest YA is a tour de force and an exquisite fantasy for the #metoo movement.
"Tess of the Road is astonishing and perfect. It's the most compassionate book I've read since George Eliot's Middlemarch." --NPR
In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is. . . different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. What she's done is so disgraceful, she can't even allow herself to think of it. Unfortunately, the past cannot be ignored. So Tess's family decide the only path for her is a nunnery.
But on the day she is to join the nuns, Tess chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. She's not running away, she's running towards something. What that something is, she doesn't know. Tess just knows that the open road is a map to somewhere else--a life where she might belong.
Returning to the spellbinding world of the Southlands she created in the award-winning, New York Times bestselling novel Seraphina, Rachel Hartman explores self-reliance and redemption in this wholly original fantasy.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR * BOSTON GLOBE * The Chicago Public Library * KIRKUS REVIEWS
Four starred reviews!
"The world building is gorgeous, the creatures are vivid and Hartman is a masterful storyteller. Pick up this novel, and savor every page." --Paste Magazine
I started this book thinking that it might be a bit on the younger side for YA - the girl, running away, pretending to be a boy...however, I learned pretty much from the get-go that this book deals with some pretty heavy themes. Not having read Seraphina, I cannot speak as to whether that is typical of Hartman or not, but it certainly is here.
The book deals with alcoholism, rape, sexism, and the death of a child. It deals with overbearing religion, handicaps, and overall - that we are what we choose to become, regardless of our circumstances.
Hopefully the prior paragraph didn't frighten anyone away, because while the subject matter can be a bit heavy, it is all dealt with in a fashion that is appropriate to the book and enhances Tess' story rather than taking away from it. And as I said at the end of that paragraph - the overarching theme is that we are all capable of facing our demons, learning from our mistakes, and that hiding from our past only ends up hurting us in the end. And that we can all choose to be better than we were, no matter those demons or mistakes or that past. Sometimes, we just need to take to the Road.
