Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

April 25, 2025

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

Nadya was born with only one hand, to a teenage mother who abandoned her right after her birth. Taken in by the nuns at the local orphanage, Nadya flourishes there, developing a knack for choosing the correct child to present to prospective parents. Although she does not consider herself handicapped (she reasons she can't miss what she never had), Nadya accepts that it is unlikely that she will ever be adopted because adults are unable to see beyond the one thing that Nadya is missing. That is, until a pair of American missionaries show up at the Russian orphanage, determined to adopt the most unadoptable child they can find. They take Nadya back to America with them, not because they really want a child but because it is the "Christian" thing to do. Nadya adjusts to her new life, learning English and how her adoptive parents expect her to act and react, and everything seems to be going as well as can be expected. But then Nadya falls through a door at the bottom of the pond behind her house and discovers a whole different world beneath the waters and meets the Drowned People.

Part of the award-winning Wayward Children series. This is a novella that tells the backstory of one of the peripheral characters in the series. Themes include abandonment, physical disability, culture and adoption. I didn't like the ending, but that was because it wasn't really an ending, more like the set-up for a future book, so perhaps we will see more of Nadya. Will appeal to readers who enjoy re-tellings of fairy and folk tales, such as Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik or The Bear and the Nighingale by Katherine Arden.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

There are turtles in this book, a LOT of turtles.