Book of a Thousand Days (2007)

Book of a Thousand Days is a 2007 young adult fantasy novel by Shannon Hale. It is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Maid Maleen.

Plot summary

Dashti, a mucker from steppes of the Eight Realms, begins a diary as she looks for a job after her mother dies of illness. Eventually, she finds and accepts a position as the new maid of Lady Saren, the youngest child of the lord of Titor's Garden. Saren has defied her father's declaration that she will marry Lord Khasar of Thoughts of Under and revealed that she is engaged to the young Khan Tegus of Song for Evela. To tame his daughter, Saren's father shuts her and Dashti, the only maid willing to accompany Saren, in a tower far away from his city and surrounded by guards. He claims he will only release them after seven years, or if Saren will relent and marry Khasar.

While isolated from the rest of the world, Dashti realizes the fragility of Saren's mind and heart and does her best to soothe Saren through stories and songs. When Khan Tegus visits them, Saren unexpectedly refuses to speak with him and orders Dashti to impersonate her. As Tegus cannot see into the tower, Dashti reluctantly agrees and a friendship develops between them when he returns for several more visits, including one where he gives Saren a cat whom Dashti names "My Lord." However, Lord Khasar also arrives at the tower and begins harassing them, performing cruel acts to torture and upset them. The guards around the tower fail to respond to the girls' cries and My Lord disappears from the tower during a night when they hear the howls of a wolf, causing the rats to infest the tower. Khasar's appearances cause Saren to become withdrawn from deep-seated fear, in spite of Dashti's efforts. As their food storages dwindle, Dashti finds a weakened portion of the tower where the rats have entered and breaks through the wall to freedom.

Once out, they discover that Titor's Garden has been destroyed and they discover that Khasar has been waging war across the Eight Realms. Together, they travel to Song for Evela, which has remained untouched by Khasar so far, and Dashti finds them jobs as scrubbers in the kitchens of Khan Tegus. Though Dashti continues to sing healing songs to calm and soothe her, Saren's condition does not improve, and she refuses to reveal her identity to Khan Tegus. When it is revealed that Dashti can sing songs of healing, she is hired to take care of and heal Tegus, and the two slowly fall in love.

While Dashti thrives as a servant, Saren grows increasingly resentful and unhappy, especially when My Lord finds them again. Dashti returns the cat to Saren, who begins to grow more confident in herself through the cat's unconditional love. As Khasar begins to approach Song for Evela, Tegus agrees to a betrothal to Lady Vachir, the ruling lady of the realm Beloved of Ris, in order to save the remaining realms. Desperate to save the realms, Dashti tries to persuade Saren to reveal herself, but her fear overwhelms her. She orders Dashti to impersonate her again, and for once Dashti is stalwart in her refusal. However, when Khasar threatens to level the city unless they give up Lady Saren, Dashti relents and presents herself as Lady Saren to Tegus and his ministers, thinking to protect her lady.

Dashti finally coaxes Saren to speak of her previous traumatic meeting with Khasar, allowing Dashti to form a plan to defeat him. She risks herself before Khasar's armies, using her song to reveal his true nature: he is actually a skin-changer who becomes a wolf. Khasar's armies turn against him, and he is killed. Dashti returns to the palace, prepared to leave after uniting Saren and Tegus despite her own feelings for him, but is exposed as a mucker by the vindictive Lady Vachir after she steals Dashti's diary. Saren finds the courage to stand up for herself and saves Dashti with help and encouragement from Tegus. Dashti and Tegus marry.

Characters

Dashti

The narrator and the writer of the "Book of a Thousand Days", fifteen-year-old Dashti leaves the plains where she was raised to find work in a nearby city after her mother dies. As a person from the plains, she is looked down on as a "mucker", a low-class citizen, by nobility. However, she accepts the role of becoming the lady's maid of Lady Saren, abiding by her oath of service to follow Saren even as she is imprisoned for seven years in a tower. Describing herself as thin, with skinny ankles, worn-out hands, long black hair, and with birth marks, or what she calls "blotches" on her face and hands, Dashti is revealed to be a resilient and resourceful young woman. The strength of her will and spirit allows her and Saren to survive in the tower and go on living after their escape, and Dashti's knowledge of songs of healing soothe the damaged spirits of those close to her. She is deathly loyal to Lady Saren, seeing it as her duty to her ancestors and the gods she worships.

Lady Saren

Sixteen-year-old Saren is the third child of the ruler of Titor's Garden, who regarded her as a worthless and ugly brat. Her unusually vehement refusal to marry Lord Khasar, claiming that she is betrothed to Khan Tegus, results in her imprisonment in a tower with only one maid for company for the next seven years. Dashti astutely perceives that Saren's lack of self-esteem and nervous disposition are the results of a deep-rooted sickness within Saren's heart and gradually helps her heal. Though she is initially afraid of everything and easily jealous, she comes to trust Dashti as a true friend.

Khan Tegus