A review by skigirl1689
The Mirrored World by Debra Dean
2.0
This was a quick read; I read it in about 3 hours. It was well written, but I found it weird that it was marketed as being about St. Xenia, a most-revered Russian saint, but it focuses on her cousin's life that intersects with Xenia's. I found the novel moved way too fast, spanning the narrator's lifetime in 256 pages. I found myself pretty lost in the first third of the novel, not sure why the cousins' childhoods were relevant to the rest of the novel.
The novel does raise the question if St. Xenia went insane after she lost her husband, feeling burdened to give the poor all of her earthly possessions for a life on the streets, or if she was inspired by God to do this. I'd like to think it was the latter, but I am not sure.
The novel does raise the question if St. Xenia went insane after she lost her husband, feeling burdened to give the poor all of her earthly possessions for a life on the streets, or if she was inspired by God to do this. I'd like to think it was the latter, but I am not sure.