Sky of Ashes Land of Dreams

I received an advanced review copy of this book through Librarything's Early Reviewer's Club in exchange for an honest review. This enthralling story is about three young adults who are living on the cusp of great change in early 20th-century Mongolia. It is a beautiful saga about having dreams, finding love, and learning to survive in a harsh, ever-changing place.

The publisher's summary:

Bolormaa is introduced to the man she is to marry on her eighteenth birthday, over mutton stew and steaming buuz. She has spent her entire life in the Gobi Desert, living a nomadic life with her family, always moving with their animals in search of grazing lands. Reading about other places in a tent school, she dreamed of another sort of life. But now, her education is finished, and her future seems to be laid out before her like the colorful rugs in the family’s ger.

Ganbaatar grew up under the vast, blue-gray, Mongolian sky, the protective arm of his mother, and the withering gaze of his father. He has been a good son and a steady hand, working on the land with the herds, often feeling that he was meant for something different—if only he had the courage to reach for it.

When Aisin’s parents die, she leaves her siblings and everything she knows in China to live with her uncle in Mongolia. She’s unprepared for the level of prejudice she’ll face because of her heritage, but her bravery and stubbornness form a shield she readily dons. An accomplished horse rider and rare beauty, she works alongside her uncle and forges a path as a single woman during challenging times.

Under the mutable sky of the Gobi Desert, these characters find the resilience to face the harsh, brutal winters, the challenges of drought and scarcity, and the political upheaval that will threaten the nomadic lifestyle their people have practiced for generations. A sweeping novel of historical fiction, Sky of Ashes, Land of Dreams is the story of unforgettable characters surviving extraordinary times, a journey of self-discovery and self-determination, and a powerful exploration of love in its many forms.

I loved this story! It is a captivating portrait of people and their ways of life in an isolated, rarely-examined setting, the Gobi Desert. The story begins in the Gobi Desert in 1917 and it ends in 1960. The main characters are husband and wife Bolormaa and Ganbaatar. The novel follows their childhood activities, marriage ceremonies, meal preparations, nursing the dying, unpacking homes, gers or yurts as I would call them, to be reassembled where the grazing is better. A third main character is Aisin. She was born in China but when both of her parents died, she was sent to live with an uncle in the Gobi. Because she is Chinese, Aisin is ostracized by the Mongolians. Ganbaatar falls in love with her the first time he sees her. He marvels at her beauty. Ganbaatar marries Bolormaa instead because his father insisted on the marriage. There is a question throughout the story whether they were having an affair. Both were in love with each other but they may have restrained their feelings. We don't really know.

The story encompasses two world wars and the political upheavals in both China and Russia. These events are seen in the distance, because they are secondary to getting through another day alive. Eventually, though, the Soviet political forces affect the livelihood of the characters when the communist redistribution of land and animal ownership is forced upon them.

The book is a quick read. The ending seemed to be rushed though. Many loose ends are tied up but I wish that the author had taken her time writing this part of the story. The book is about 270 pages in length so devoting more detail to the ending would not have been too much reading for the reader.

I highly recommend this book, especially to historical fiction fans. 4 out of 5 stars.