Tess of the Road
by Rachel Hartman
Random House
ISBN 978-1101931288
Age Range: 14-18
544 Pages
Tess Dombergh is a stubborn troublemaker, a disappointment to her family, and destined for life in a nunnery. After making a scene at her sister’s wedding, Tess pulls on her boots, packs her bag, and runs away. She sets out on a journey across the Southlands alone, in the guise of a boy.
While the goal of Tess’s journey is to find the fabled World Serpent, Anathuthia, the story itself feels as aimless and restless as Tess, but is compelling nonetheless. Using alternating past and present narratives, Hartman uses the fantasy setting as a vehicle to explore issues of consent, ideas about womanhood, virginity, and religion. Her relationships with her twin sister, her mother, half-sister Seraphina, and her friend Pathka, as well as others are complex and gradually developed over the course of the novel.
Tess herself is not a likeable character. She is complex and self-destructive, has a drinking problem, pushes people away, and at times, actively screws up her own chances of happiness. But her growth from a young girl to a woman feels so realistic and genuine.
While I greatly enjoyed this book, and would recommend reading it, I will warn you: you might not like this book. Not everyone is going to like it; this book discusses difficult topics, including emotional and physical abuse, and non-graphic rape. But, in the end, like Tess, this is not a story that needs to be liked. It needs to be heard.
Note: I originally read this book as an ARC and re-read it after its publication for the purposes of this blog post.
Deanna Schiffman 