Hands: A Young Woman's Journey

Sally is the daughter of a family of farmers. She loves caring for animals and working in the fields alongside her brothers. The outdoors is her world and her inspiration. When her parents decide to place her with another family as a maid, she is stricken. Losing the world of the outdoors feels like losing her hands. Helping to guide Sally are three very different mentors: a retired schoolteacher, her uncle Os, and an old woman who lives a mysterious life in the woods. With their help she wends her way through experiences and challenges that shape her passage into wisdom. She learns that this life can encourage the growth of new hands—hands that are uniquely her own. This story is based in part on fact, and includes echoes of the Slavic folk character Baba Yaga, the initiation folktale “The Handless Maiden,” and the French folktale “Bluebeard.”