In Blanca & Roja, Anna-Marie McLemore (The Weight of Feathers, Wild Beauty) blends familiar fairytales The Swan Princess and Snow White and Rose Red into a rich, luxurious story of friendship, love and self-acceptance that is told with her signature style of magical realism.
Despite being polar opposites—Blanca is fair-skinned, blond and graceful while Roja is dark-skinned and a little wild—the del Cisne sisters are so close they might as well be one person. But thanks to a mysterious family curse, they know their time together is drawing short. As the del Cisne women have accepted for generations, soon the swans will take one of the two sisters for themselves, leaving the other to live as a human. But when two local boys—one who is fleeing a family scandal and the other who is running from parents who can’t understand why he identifies as their son and not as their daughter—become entangled in the del Cisne girls’ fates, the swans’ magic becomes unpredictable, and all four teens have to face difficult truths about themselves and their families in order to survive.
McLemore’s fans will be delighted to dive back into her lush, poetic prose and revel in the nuanced composition of her characters and their relationships as they learn to navigate a world in which they must constantly overcome stifling expectations and damaging stereotypes in order to protect their identities and their hearts.
In Blanca & Roja, McLemore gives readers a modern twist on timeless stories, making this the perfect read for a shadowy autumn afternoon.
