Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale

I love novels taken from tiny footnotes of history, broadening a bare snippet of tale into a life. Hush is definitely one of these. It's beautifully written - even the terrible and sad parts of the book. I adore Napoli's books because her main characters always take a journey from who they are in the beginning to who they are in the end. In Melkorka's case, she goes from being a spoiled little princess to a strong, fierce woman who has learned to feel compassion for more than simply herself and her family. The only thing I did not like about Hush is the ending (and cover your eyes if *SPOILERS* offend you). I wanted to know if the Melkorka in the story ever got back to Ireland. Although it's unknown in history, the ending felt almost hollow, the way Melkorka is left.

The story and the information of that time period is incredibly gipping and beautiful! The only complain I have is the rushed ending where they tell you the questions you were asking the whole time, is quickly answered in and ending summary. It could have been a longer book. But for what was written, no complaints :)

If you want a true, realistic, historical fiction then this is the books for you. The author does an amazing job of making the worlds come to live. Not only did I enjoy reading the story but I also feel like I learned a lot too.

I might have liked it if I had known from the beginning what it was, but I didn't. I had hoped that Melkorka would become the princess whose vow of silence takes her on a quest to rescue her brothers who are ensnared (ala Grimm). Napoli has produced several recent works in which the story takes one of those familiar tales and reimagines it, so that didn't seem unreasonable. However, this is unequivocably something else. I have a sneaking suspicion that Simon and Schuster have put this book at a disadvantage with lots of readers by building this unfair expectaion that the book can't meet, which would explain the range of reader ratings. If this looks and smells like a fairy tale revisited, we want it to be one. I like the concept of taking a snip of history and creating the story from which it sprang, but it needs to be clearer that this is the direction we are taking, and then more attention needs to be paid to the history.

I didn't really know what to expect from Hush Having never read a Napoli book before, it's discription is a little ambiguous and upon reading the first few pages I realized that the story was not what I thought it was going to be.Hush is told in first person from Melkorka's point of view, which gives the novel the feeling of a story your being told, rather then a story your reading. As though an elderly Melkorka is sitting with you relating the story of her life directly to the reader. The year is 900A.D. At 15 Melkorka has never known anything but extreem comfort and security, She is a Princess and in no doubt that her future is bright. But a birthday trip to Dublin and a random act of violence against her younger brother changes everything.Things seem to snowball from there, Melkorka and her eight year old sister Brigid are sent away for their own safety but their journy goes nightmareishly wrong. They are kidnapped by Russian slave traders, the Princess finds herself just another face in a mass of human cargo, her only power lies in her silence for she refuses to speak. The ships captain is fascinated and wary of Melkorka, and through him she gains some small amount of protection. Even so, hardship has hummbled the once hauty Princess she no longer feels herself above anyone. She bonds with her fellow captives, and uses her small amount of influence to help them. Then the worst happens. Brigid manages to escape while Melkorka is left on board.The ship eventually lands in the middle east and Melkorka watches powerless as those she has grown to love are sold away. Loss after loss and she can do nothing but endure. I wont say more, I dont want to spoil the end.What you should know before buying this book. This is a short one at 308 pages, this causes the story to feel some what rushed. This is not a romance. if your expecting love on the high seas and a daring rescue followed by a happy and for all involved, you will be disapointed. The ending though not tragic is far from rosey. Hush is meant to be testament to the strength of the human spirit. Enjoyable is not a word I would use to discribe Napoli's work here. I think Powerful is more accurate.

I love Donna Jo Napoli. My favorite book by her is actually Zel. I also enjoyed the Rumplestilskin Problem. Which is why I was so dissapointed in Hush. It was boring and I kept forcing myself to continue reading with hopes that it would get better. It didn't. Here is the synopsis of the story in a few paragraphs. I would reccomend you read it rather than the book. It'll save you a lot of time.Synopsis:About 90% of the story takes place on a Viking slave ship which is boring. The protagonist and her sister and kidnapped and put on the ship. Because the protagonist decides that she isn't going to speak, the Viking captain decides she must be a bird in a girls body, so he allows her to do whatever she wants.I found it very unrealistic, especially the times when she defies the captain in front of his crew. The captain is a man who cares a lot about appearences and he believes that slaves are scum, so it's very odd. Especially since he has no respect for women and viciously rapes one woman over and over and breaks bones of women and beats them.Later, she leaves the boat and works as a slave. Then, a King decides he wants to buy her. For no apparent reason, he gives her beautiful clothes that he had intended for his wife. He has sex with her a lot and seems to fall in love with her. They arrive to his homeland. The protagonist discovers she is pregnant. She decides she may start speaking when her son is born and tell him about her native land.THE END.

Hush got me on the edge if my seat the whole time! I love how Donna Jo Napoli made her own story based on a true story! I would recommend it to mature young adults.

Donna Jo Napoli is a great writer. This is one of my very favorites that she has written.

Great young adult book. Read it as a teenager and bought it as an adult; years later it’s still good. You get sucked back into the world of 10th century; princesses, Vikings, ships, markets.... and with focus on the European slave trade. Its pretty slow paced, but I couldn’t put it down!

I love this book, there is nothing that can be faulted. It lived up to it's title completely and I recommend it to anyone.

I have been looking for a book that stood up against "The Raging Quiet" for a good few years. Having history, adventure, sorrow and triumph in one book makes a tall order to be wrapped in the form of a Young Adult book (I'm 22 and have a degree, but I prefer less taxing language).This tale of an Irish girl who is captured by Vikings, and taken on a very long journey and encounters many heartaches, finds a reality she didnt realise existed, but also makes a niche within this new world she encounters, is truely amazing and captivating.I recommend this book to all who love the genres I previously mentioned, definatly worth buying and keeping to read many times over!Juli x

Love this book

Awful, awful re-telling of Melkorka's story from the Laxdaela Saga. Trite and badly researched - Irish kings lived in roundhouses in the Mediaeval period, not in luxury palaces; Carlingford Lough is not a lake but a large bay - I could go on but why bother? I acknowledge that the novel appears to be aimed at the YA market (and I admit I'm about as far from that as you could meet) but the novel conveniently stops just prior to Melkorka's rape and therefore skims over some of the more 'difficult' issues of her tale, foregoing these for describing the man who buys her in such saccharine terms that you want to check that you haven't lost any teeth by reading it and thus flagging up the tale as a potential love story. Basically, it's a Disneyesque re-telling of what is, in fact, an extremely dark tale.