Mary’s Pick of the Week: Bear by Julia Phillips

In my first iteration as a librarian, I worked in the Children’s Room and was lucky enough to order folk and fairy tales.  I loved poring over the various versions of classics, and sought out esoteric tales and stories from other lands.  Once I read a little-known Brothers Grimm story called “Bearskin.”  It’s about a poor soldier who makes a deal with the devil and must spend seven years in the same clothes, ragged and unwashed.  Disguised in this way, the man struggles to connect with other humans – they are scared of his appearance and assume he’s a beast in the truest sense of the word, until he is genuinely seen by the youngest daughter of a poor man.

Julia Phillips creates a disturbing modern day fairy tale reminiscent of Bearskin set on an island in the San Juans off the coast of Washington. The seemingly bucolic setting turns dark pretty quickly as we meet a small family doing what they can to keep creditors at bay.  Two sisters work hard to support their ailing mother; Sam serves food to visiting passengers on the ferry and Elena works for the well-heeled at a golf club.  Their lives are changed forever upon the arrival of a bear; Sam first spots it swimming in a channel, but gradually the bear appears to follow them to their home in the woods.  Sam reacts in fear, not only of the bear but of the changes its appearance manifests in her sister.  Elena, however, begins to glow and finds a peace that she didn’t know existed.  The author excels at illustrating the complicated relationship of sisters; these two love each other through and through, but can also hurt one another in devastating ways.  By turns magical and powerfully realistic, for readers with a willing imagination, Bear will be a book you cannot put down.  Phillips leaves a complex trail of breadcrumbs that manages to weave together themes of poverty, grief and fidelity in a startling conclusion that’s as mysterious as any fairy tale.  

Readers may also be interested in her debut novel Disappearing Earth, which was a National Book Award Finalist.