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Darkness and Light in Tahereh Mafi’s Whichwood
Pulling Whichwood (the sequel to author Tahereh Mafi’s New York Times bestselling Furthermore) from its packaging, I was first struck by the contrast of the cover. Bright red roses and icy blue frost surround a character whose eyes are wide and whimsical, a character garbed in a wintry armor. It’s one of those covers where you just know (or you really, really hope) that the inside will be something that keeps you reading long past bedtime.
Whichwood does not disappoint.
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As it turns out, the character on the cover is thirteen-year-old Laylee, the last mordeshoor in the village of Whichwood. What’s a mordeshoor, you ask? Well, it’s the job of the mordeshoor to scrub the town’s dead bodies, cleansing them so that their souls can pass on to the next world. Lovely, right? Obviously, not just anyone can hold this position. Not too long ago, it was Laylee’s parents who undertook the gruesome task. But when Laylee’s mother dies suddenly, her father is overcome by grief. He now roams the town center, lost in his own madness, leaving Laylee as the sole mordeshoor. That was two years ago, and by the time we meet Laylee in the first pages of this book, time and hard labor have already begun to take a toll. Her once chestnut hair is turning silver, her amber eyes have turned gray, and now, perhaps most frightening of all, her fingertips are beginning to silver. She discovers this fact one night while hiding in the bathroom from her (ghost) mother. Apparently, even in death, one cannot escape a nagging mother, except to hide in the bathroom.
Both physically and emotionally, Laylee’s world is cold, dark, and wintery. Her loneliness is masked by her anger, her exhaustion fueled by a sense of duty. When two children, who introduce themselves as Alice and Oliver (whom readers will recognize from Furthermore), show up in Laylee’s bedroom one night, her first instinct is to push them away. The work of a mordeshoor is not for the faint of heart. In order to survive a night at the castle, Alice and Oliver must each wash three bodies—a man, woman, and child. Any other children would run the opposite direction, and these two nearly do. But Alice and Oliver are not ordinary children. And so they swallow their fear, draw up their compassion, and stay.
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Alice’s intentions are not purely selfless. She’s come from Ferenwood, where her own world is less-than-perfect. As part of her recent coming-of-age ceremony, Alice has been tasked to Laylee, to seek her out and “fix” her “problem.” What that problem is, exactly, Alice is not sure. It doesn’t take long, though, before she thinks she has an idea. Laylee is sick. Very sick. The kind of sickness that will soon have her in much closer company with the souls she works so tirelessly to cleanse. Alice takes it upon herself to heal Laylee using her own kind of magic, but things don’t quite go according to plan. Meanwhile, the restless souls of the mounting dead begin take their revenge on Laylee by terrorizing the town of Whichwood. As things continue to unravel, sometimes in a rather dark and gruesome way, Alice must learn that problems are not always as they appear, and the solutions not as simplistic as they may seem. And for Laylee, there’s the possibility of friendship, if she can just stay alive.
Much like the cover, Whichwood is a tale of contrasts. Dark and light, death and life, loneliness and friendship. Its themes are familiar, while appealing to readers who enjoy a bit more bone-chilling reading. Recommended for older middle grade readers, Whichwood is a story that will please fans of Furthermore, while introducing new readers to Mafi’s powerful storytelling. Dark fantasy, rooted in emotional reality; pick this one up for your winter reading.
Whichwood is on B&N bookshelves now.