Author: Anna-Marie McLemore
Genre: Fantasy/Retelling
Series: No
Brief Summary:
The story is a retelling of the classic tale, The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. Three interposing stories weave together to tell the story of modern-day teens Rosella and Emil and Emil's ancestor, Lavinia. It seems that the 'dancing plague of 1518 that affected the course of Lavinia's life has come back to haunt Rosella, whose family is famous for making shoes of exceptional quality. Both young women have to fight for freedom from the curse and make tough decisions that have repercussions not only for themselves but for everything they hold dear.
Here is what Goodreads has to say:
My take:Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family, and Lavinia may have to do the unimaginable to save herself and everyone she loves.
Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Oliva’s feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her toward a boy who knows the dancing fever’s history better than anyone: Emil, whose family was blamed for the fever five hundred years ago. But there’s more to what happened in 1518 than even Emil knows, and discovering the truth may decide whether Rosella survives the red shoes.
With McLemore's signature lush prose, Dark and Deepest Red pairs the forbidding magic of a fairy tale with a modern story of passion and betrayal.
This book was exceptionally well written, and I cannot wait to read more from the author. The way she weaved the different characters together made for one seamless story with characters that I found myself caring about deeply. Within the story, she tackles such hard topics as social injustice, identity preference, and class/race prejudice without shying away from the social climate of either time period. Add to that the terrible tragedy of the Witch Trials, and it makes for one very interesting read.
edit - Septem-bean beans sent! - Tarma
