Judith Berman, Bear Daughter

Bear Daughter

Judith Berman

Ace, Sept 2005, $15.00, 432 pp.

ISBN 0441013228

One day Cloud wakes up to find she is a twelve year old human girl and no longer the bear she once was. Her mother Thrush is glad to see her daughter take human form but her husband King Rumble of Sandspit Town is horrified and banishes her from her mother's home. She goes to stay with Aunt Glory who tells her she must visit the seer Winter in Whale Town. Rumble tries to kill her and sends his wizard to make sure she never comes home again.

She makes her way to Winter and her husband the wizard Otter who tells her she is half mortal and half divine, a fact that scares her because her father is one of the First People who walked the Earth as a Bear who killed many people. Rumble who loved Thrush, Blush's mother, rescued her and killed her father and brothers and bound their bones together so they cannot be reborn. They cry out to Blush in her dreams and she undergoes many dangerous adventures to undo what Rumble has done and in the process accepts herself and her dual nature.

This is a delightfully imaginative world where magic exists and is used the way people in our world use machinery. The protagonist travels through many realms and sees wondrous sights but she doesn't have time to enjoy any of them because she is in constant danger and must keep on the move. Readers will empathize with her fears and hope she finds peace in a world that treats her like an outcast.

Harriet Klausner