The Baba Yaga Mask
This dual-timeline novel explores the lives of three women, the contemporary lives of two Ukrainian-American sisters and their runaway grandmother, as well as the circumstances of the grandmother during the 1940s in Ukraine.
In the contemporary timeline, we meet Vira as an old woman—determined, unpredictable, strong. She tells her granddaughters that she would like to turn from Baba Vira (grandmother Vira) into the folktale version of the witch-in-the-forest, Baba Yaga. These folktales are referenced throughout the novel, giving a window into the culture Vira wants to preserve. But Baba Yaga is a trickster character, never doing the expected: sometimes helping, sometimes punishing. When Baba Vira flies to Poland to cheer on a Ukrainian dance troupe, and then disappears at the Warsaw airport, her adult granddaughters, Larissa and Ira, must find her.
Both believe that Baba Vira intends to lead them on a merry chase, but while Larissa is irritated at the imposition and worried about an elderly woman on her own, Ira finds the adventure irresistible. As the sisters butt heads with each other, the 1940s timeline unrolls as well, expertly delivering Vira’s experiences under the Soviet occupation, the Nazi occupation, and the fleeing of her homeland with her mother and sisters.
While at times the prose seems abrupt, the plotting of this novel is expertly done. Given the background of contemporary events, this is “edu-tainment” at its best. Ukrainian culture is centered in a story that takes place all over the world, showing that it isn’t necessarily a land that unites a people, it is a united people that create a culture. This fascinating take on personal choice, bonds of blood, and familial obligation is well worth the read.
