Pran of Albania

One of six titles to be chosen as a Newbery Honor Book in 1930 - along with A Daughter of the Seine, The Tangle-Coated Horse and Other Tales, The Jumping-Off Place, Vaino, and Little Blacknose - this work of historical fiction is engrossing, entertaining, and emotionally satisfying. It is also, to the best of my knowledge, completely unique. I know of no other children's book about Albania, save the author's own Children of the Mountain Eagle, based (as this one was) upon the author's time with the Red Cross in Albania, shortly after the close of the First World War.

The story of fourteen-year-old Pran, a daughter of the Maltsors, the mountain people of Albania, who - together with her father Ndrek, her mother Lukja, and her twin show more brothers Nik and Gjon - lives a simple pastoral life in the small northern village of Thethi, Pran of Albania is a tale of tradition and community, and the strength they give, during a time of trial. But it is also a tale of the need for change, the importance of choice, and the desire for love. It follows Pran from the night when guests arrive unexpectedly at her father's house, bringing with them a suggestion of the coming conflict with Albania's Slavic neighbors; through the war itself, in which Pran and the other civilians must evacuate to Skodra (Shkodër), while the men hold off the enemy; and finally, to the return of the villagers to Thethi, and the resolution of Pran's strange friendship with the wandering Nush.

The story itself is exciting, and the cultural details felt authentic, although I am ill equipped to judge, of course. Many Albanian words and phrases - always explained in the text - are used, and customs such as the blood feud feature prominently. So too, in the end, does the Albanian tradition of the "burrnesha," or sworn virgin, in which a woman can take a vow of chastity, put on men's clothing, and "become" a man, thereby escaping (among other things) an arranged marriage. The resolution of Pran's vow, in this regard, whilst not entirely unexpected, was nevertheless very satisfying. Just as satisfying was Pran's brief stint as an orator, in which she argues eloquently at the men's council for the continuation of the peace between the tribes, and the outlawing of the internecine blood feuds which had caused so much suffering for all. Given the recent revival of the tribal code, in Albanian society, one wishes that there were such a figure today!

With a story that keeps the reader involved, and a heroine for whom the reader comes to care, Pran of Albania is a work of fiction that deserves to be better known! show less