![]() Marjan now walks with a limp and knows that her foot is an “ill omen” to many people, and that she will probably never marry because of it. Marjan is angry at her mother for crippling her. Marjan’s own mother, Madar, deliberately maimed Marjan’s foot so that she would not be taken as one of the Sultan’s wives. A famous outlaw, Abu Muslem, is legendary for helping women escape out of the city to safety. The Sultan’s murderous ways have had a deleterious effect on the community. By telling the Sultan her stories, she is both protecting her own life and saving hundreds of girls from being killed. Marjan admires Shahrazad’s skill and bravery. The Sultan allows her to live another day so that he can hear the rest of the story. The Sultan agrees, and Shahrazad tells her sister Dunyazad an exciting tale, stopping at a thrilling point as dawn arrives. On the night they marry, she asks him if she could tell one last story to her younger sister before dawn. This continues until Shahrazad, the daughter of the Sultan’s vizier, volunteers to be the Sultan’s next wife. He marries a new woman each night and kills her the next morning. Ever since then, he believes that all women are betrayers. When the Sultan’s first wife betrayed him and took a lover, he had them both killed. She knows that stories can save your life: just look at the example of Shahrazad. Auntie Chava worries that Marjan’s “shadow spinning,” or storytelling, is impractical, but Marjan disagrees. Marjan knows lots of stories from both her mother and from listening to storytellers at the local bazaar. ![]() Auntie Chava and Uncle Eli treat Marjan more as a daughter, and Marjan is happy with them. Marjan lives with an older Jewish couple, Auntie Chava and Uncle Eli, who took her in as a servant after the death of her mother. Marjan is the first-person narrator of Shadow Spinner, and she begins each chapter of her tale with a bit of advice called “Lessons for Life and Storytelling,” which informs the section to come. Marjan learns the “truth below the surface of tales” and the unique ability of stories to teach people how to live their lives. ![]() In Majran’s story, Fletcher incorporates themes of courage, forgiveness, loyalty, and the power of words. Set in ancient Persia, Shadow Spinner is a reimagining of the classic 1001 Arabian Nights. The story follows thirteen-year old Marjan, a servant and storyteller, as she struggles to find new stories to help keep her heroine, Shahrazad, alive. Shadow Spinner is a historical fiction novel for children and young adults written by American author Susan Fletcher and published in 1998. ![]()
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