I really reveled in the theme of a woman not just falling to societal expectations, but instead doing what she needed to do to not just survive, but to live.
I enjoyed the twists and turns to the story. They definitely kept me reading. I was also taken by the seriousness with which oaths are taken.
On Goodreads the author shared how she came up with the idea for the book.
Years ago, I read an article in The New York Times about the last remaining sworn virgins in the mountains of Albania. Immediately, the basic conflict of "The Sworn Virgin," based on the true tradition, popped into my mind: What happens when you must choose between your love, or your life?
I began researching the culture of the Albanian mountains, learning how traveling into the mountains in 1910, from a Western point of view, was like traveling back thousands of years in time. Understanding the rules of Eleanora's world shaped the context of the characters, and how Eleanora could be true to her time -- but a rebel, as well.
Goodreads says:
What would you do if your father was suddenly and mysteriously murdered, leaving you alone in 1910s Albania?
When 18-year-old Diana’s father is mysteriously shot dead in the cobblestone streets of 1910s Albania, Diana must abandon her dream of studying art in Italy as she struggles to survive in a remote mountain village with her stepmother Mirlinda.
Nearing starvation, Mirlinda secretly sells Diana into marriage with Edi, the cruel heir of a powerful clan. Rather than lose her freedom, Diana swears to remain a virgin for the rest of her life, a tradition that gives her the right to live as a man: she is now head of her household, can work for a living and carry a gun. She may participate in the vengeful blood feuds that consume the mountain tribes, but she may not be killed—unless she forsakes her vow.
When an ill stranger stumbles into her life, she nurses him back to health, saving his life but risking her own when she falls in love with him. . .
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