Book of a Thousand Days (Hale)

Book of a Thousand Days 
Shannon Hale, 2007
Bloomsbury USA
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781599903781


Summary
When a beautiful princess refuses to marry the prince her father has chosen, her father is furious and locks her in a tower.

She has seven long years of solitude to think about her insolence. But the princess is not entirely alone—she has her maid, Dashti. Petulant and spoilt, the princess eats the food in their meagre store as if she were still at court, and Dashti soon realises they must either escape or slowly starve.

But during their captivity, resourceful Dashti discovers that there is something far more sinister behind her princess's fears of marrying the prince, and when they do break free from the tower, they find a land laid to waste and the kingdom destroyed. They were safe in the tower, now they are at the mercy of the evil prince with a terrible secret.

Thrilling, captivating, and a masterful example of storytelling at its best. The princess’s maid is a feisty and thoroughly modern heroine, in this wonderfully timeless story. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—January 26, 1974
• Where—Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Utah; M.A. University of
   Montana
• Awards—Newberry Award; Josette Frank Award
• Currently—lives in South Jordan, Utah


Shannon Hale is the author of five award-winning young-adult novels, including the best-selling Newbery Honor book Princess Academy.

Her two adult novels are Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife. She and her husband Dean Hale have also published a graphic novel, Rapunzel's Revenge. She lives with her husband and their two children in South Jordan, Utah.

Shannon Bryner was born in Salt Lake City, where she attended West High School. Before writing professionally, she wrote while pursuing acting in television, stage and improv comedy, as well as studying in Mexico and the UK. She spent a year and a half as an unpaid missionary in Paraguay, then returned to the United States to earn her bachelors degree in English from the University of Utah and a masters in creative writing from the University of Montana.

Hale has been writing since the age of 10, but met with numerous rejections until her first book The Goose Girl was finally published in 2003. The Goose Girl, was an American Library Association Top Ten Book for Young Adults and Josette Frank Award winner. In 2004 her second novel, Enna Burning, which follows Enna, a minor character from The Goose Girl, was published. Princess Academ, published in 2005, won a Newbery Honor Book and became a New York Times Best Seller. (From Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
Hale delivers another winning fantasy, this time inventively fleshing out the obscure Grimm tale, Maid Maleen, through the expressive and earthy voice of Dashti, maid to Lady Saren. A plucky and resourceful orphan, Dashti comes from a nomad tribe in a place resembling the Asian Steppes, and is brought to the Lady's house in the midst of a crisis. Lady Saren, having refused to marry the powerful but loathsome Lord her father has chosen, faces seven years' imprisonment in an unlit tower. Initially, Dashti believes her worth is tied to her ability to care for her "tower-addled" lady until she can join Khan Tegus, to whom she is secretly betrothed. When the gentle Tegus comes to the tower, Dashti must step in for her traumatized lady, speaking to him as Saren through the one tiny metal door. Hale exploits the diary form to convey Dashti's perspective; despite her self-effacing declaration that "I draw this from memory so it won't be right," the entries reflect her genuinely spirited inner life. The tension between her unstinting loyalty and patience and burgeoning realization of her own strength and feelings for Tegus feels especially authentic. Readers will be riveted as Dashti and Saren escape and flee to the Khan's realm where, through a series of deceptions, contrivances and a riotously triumphant climax, the tale spins out to a thoroughly satisfying ending. (Ages 12-up.)
Publishers Weekly


Princess Saren is in love with Khan Tegus but betrothed to the dark Lord Khasar. Saren fears him, for good reason, and rejects the match. As punishment for her rebelliousness, her father locks her in a windowless tower for seven years. As the novel opens, Princess Saren is alone, except for the companionship of her mucker maid, Dashti. In this recasting of Grimm's classic fairy tale, Newberry Award winning author Shannon Hale once again delights modern audiences with a feisty, female protagonist, who not only must come into her own but also protect the fearful, insecure Princess from herself as well as from others who would do her harm. Young adult girls, who are also on their own journeys of self-discovery, will be enchanted by this tale about female friendships, healing, and coming of age amidst the real-world tensions of betrayal, abandonment, deception, and loss. Discussion of literary elements, such as the narrative structure of fairy tales or the traditional use of character types, will make this book a productive companion to a study of classic tales in the classroom. —Phyllis Thompson
Alan Review


Dashti, a fifteen-year-old peasant girl from the Central Asian steppes, documents her time in service to Lady Saren through journal entries. When Saren, sixteen, refuses her father's choice of bridegroom, her father locks both girls in an isolated tower with provisions for seven years. Dashti's earlier life in the steppes has prepared her to live with hardships, and she is able to care for Saren until the food runs out. After nearly three years in the tower, Dashti finds a way out, and the two girls discover that the kingdom is in ruins and that they have been forgotten. They journey to the next kingdom, and disguised, find work in the household of Saren's beloved, where Dashti's resourcefulness and talents blossom into initiative and leadership. The story is based loosely on Maid Maleen from the Brothers Grimm. As with her other books, Hale creates a female character who succeeds because of her intelligence, integrity and hard work, and who is eventually rewarded for it. Dashti, relying on her upbringing on the steppes, appears educated and independent, in contrast to Saren's helplessness as a member of the nobility. It is a refreshing change from the typical princess story, and a nod to democracy. Smith's illustrations enhance the story, which is well-written and fast-paced, and which will captivate readers.
VOYA


(Audio version.) When Dashti the muckermaid from the steppes region throws in her lot with Lady Saren, little does she expect her loyalty to be tested by being bricked up in a tower with the Lady for seven years as punishment for Saren's refusal to marry the evil Lord Khasar, rather than her own preference, the handsome and gentle Khan Tagis. A series of first-person journal entries chronicle the differences between Dashti's resourceful, optimistic, and pragmatic personality and that of Lady Saren-a 16-year-old girl/woman who is prone to depression, fearful of the world, and unable to function independently. The full cast production of the fantasy by Shannon Hale captures the lyricism of the author's language, although the voice of Dashti seems extremely young and naïve. The inclusion of many snippets of "healing songs" detracts from, rather than adds to, the story. Fans of Hale's previous books will enjoy this latest offering. Despite the somewhat predictable plot, the story is one of inspiration and hope. —Cindy Lombardo, Cleveland Public Library, IL
School Library Journal


A rousing, even spellbinding tale—with outlines in the Grimms' Maid Maleen—is set in medieval Mongolia and told in journal form. Dashti is maid and scribe to Lady Saren, whose father has bricked both of them in a tower for Saren's crime of refusing to be married to vicious lord Khasar. Dashti knows healing songs from the steppes, and she needs them, as Saren is what we would now call schizophrenic. The girls' captivity is eased at first by visits of the Khan Tegus, but the Khasar visits, too, and threatens to burn the tower with them inside. The rats that have eaten their food supply also tunnel a way out, so they escape-and find Saren's father's city destroyed. They make their way to Khan Tegus, where both girls serve hidden in his kitchen. Dashti's healing songs are needed in a war between Khasar and Tegus, and who she is, and who they are, come forth in a strongly presented climax. Dashti's voice is bright and true; Hale captures her sturdy personality, Saren's mental fragility and Khan Tegus's romantic warrior as vibrantly as she limns the stark terror of the Mongolian cold and the ugly spirit from which Khasar draws his strength. (Fantasy. 12-15.)
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help start a conversation for Book of a Thousand Days:

1. Describe the two young women in this story, Lady Saren and Dashti. In what ways are they different from one another? How does each cope with the deprivations of the tower? (Lest we judge...how would most of us fare locked away in a tower?) Why is it left to Dashti to communicate with the visitors who come to the tower?

2. Do you like the way in which this story is told: with Dashti narrating through her journal. How would you describe Dashti's voice—boastful...self-effacing...bright...depressive... uncertain...strong...thoughtful...? Does her voice change during the story?

3. How does Dashti's background prepare her to endure the isolation of the tower and the hardships of the Mongolian landscape? Talk about the ways in which Dashti's leadership and ingenuity save the two young women in their fight for survival.

4. Describe Dashti's conflict: her growing feelings for Kahn Tegus vs. her loyalty to Saren. How did you feel about the budding relationship between Dashti and Tegus?

5. How would you describe Dashti's healing songs—are they poetry, folk lore, magic? What is their purpose: why does Dashti use them, and why would Hale include them as part of the story?

6. Talk about the male characters: Lord Khasar and Khan Tegus? Are either fully-developed as human beings? Or are they one-dimensional, cartoonish characters?

7. Comment on this lovely passage: "Things worn closest to the skin, to the heart, carry the scent of a person, and of course, scent is the breath of the soul." What might Dashti mean by the last 5 words? Find and read other passages that you find lyrical or otherwise notable.

8. In what way does Saren change by the end of the book? Does she rise in stature in your estimation?

9. Hale based this book on a Brothers Grimm folk tale, "Maid Maleen," in which the imprisoned lady is the heroine, not her servant. Why might Shannon Hale have changed the heroine in her reworking of the original?

10. Does the book deliver in terms of engaging you all the way through? Are characters compelling, is the plot suspenseful, and are you satisfied with how the story ends?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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