Otter is one of the Shadowed People, free women who live in a forest town (called a pinch). Born to the binder named Willow, she had learned about the art of tying the knots that bind the dead since she was young. Deadly ghosts called the White Hands wreak havoc if they are not bound by the knots. The Shadowed People speak tales of a great binder named the Mad Spider and Otter's mother, Willow, is perhaps the greatest binder to live since the times of Mad Spider. Unfortunately, Otters world is about to change as Willow names an apprentice... and it isn't Otter. How will Otter cope with a world in which she has no official binder status and yet the dead still rise to haunt her pinch?

Erin Bow does a magnificent job at incorporating the mythology of her world into SORROW'S KNOT. The Shadowed People are a primarily matriarchal society and they hold their secrets within their various disciplines, whether it's the Rangers who guard the pinch, the Binders who cast the wards through the tying of the knots, or the Storytellers who remember the legends. Otter and her two best friends, Kestrel and Cricket (one of the few males in the pinch) break all the rules and share these legends. It is through their eyes that we see the haunting quality that permeates their world. I particularly like the way Erin Bow incorporates the history of Mad Spider into the tale as it gives us a better sense of both the characters and culture she has crafted.

Erin Bow weaves a magical tale that reads more like a fable than a typical young adult tale. We are treated to a mystical world in which birth, death, and the cycle of life are explored through the eyes of Otter. SORROW'S KNOT is a haunting tale, one that resonates with the reader long past the last page being turned. I stayed up well past my bedtime trying to finish it as the lyrical narrative style had me completely enthralled. SORROW'S KNOT is a heart-wrenching but utterly beautiful tale!

Book Summary

From the acclaimed author of PLAIN KATE, a new novel about what lurks in the shadows, and how to put it to rest...

In the world of SORROW'S KNOT, the dead do not rest easy. Every patch of shadow might be home to something hungry, something deadly. Most of the people of this world live on the sunlit, treeless prairies. But a few carve out an uneasy living in the forest towns, keeping the dead at bay with wards made from magically knotted cords. The women who tie these knots are called binders. And Otter's mother, Willow, is one of the greatest binders her people have ever known.

But Willow does not wish for her daughter to lead the lonely, heavy life of a binder, so she chooses another as her apprentice. Otter is devastated by this choice, and what's more, it leaves her untrained when the village falls under attack. In a moment of desperation, Otter casts her first ward, and the results are disastrous. But now Otter may be her people's only hope against the shadows that threaten them. Will the challenge be too great for her? Or will she find a way to put the dead to rest once and for all?