(LS 5653) A Time of Miracles by Anne-Laure Bondoux

a. Bibliographic data
Bondoux, Anne-Laure. 2010. A TIME OF MIRACLES. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385739222

b. Brief plot summary
A Time of Miracles tells the story of a young man recounting his journey from the former Soviet Union to France and the memories he makes along the way while traveling with his guardian, Gloria. While crossing borders and living in refugee camps, Koumail and Gloria encounter and sometimes befriend a variety of characters that all leave their mark on Koumail as he grows older. Now nineteen, Koumail, who is known as the French citizen Blaise Fortune, searches for the birth mother he learned about in his favorite childhood bedtime story and for Gloria, who he lost along the way to freedom all those years ago.

c. Critical analysis
A Time of Miracles is a well written novel that appeals to any reader who has ever questioned who they are. This piece of International literature weaves together the fictional journey of two deeply loving, but flawed characters with historical tidbits so that the reader is able to grasp the difficulties and dangers of life after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The author’s attention to detail does not go unnoticed, as people and places are vibrantly described and the reader is transported to a life behind the Iron Curtain.
The story is set in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The characters names and dialect used throughout the novel showcase traits of both Koumail’s soviet background and the French culture that Gloria hopes to provide for Blaise Fortune. Many of the characters are described in great detail and the author provides a small back story for those from other cultures (ex: Hoop Earring, the gypsy boy who fights Koumail, Stambeck, who was trapped under debris from a bomb and now has “wind in his head” and Fatima, who refuses to open her eyes since witnessing her father’s murder). Each new character introduces a new story, language, and culture; making A Time of Miracles a melting pot of the Eastern Hemisphere.

d. Awards and/or review excerpt(s)
• 2011 Mildred L. Batchelder Award .winner
• From School Library Journal: “The story is written in beautiful, quiet prose and offers a touch of hope, along with tragedy.”
• From Horn Book: “…readers will find themselves mesmerized not only by the eloquent language but by a plot every bit as harrowing and surprising as Koumail’s cherished bedtime story.”

e. Connections
• Use as introduction or engagement lesson to discuss European history or the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Pair with How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz. This book provides an additional look at fleeing from the Soviet collapse. The main character, a young boy, uses a map his father bought at a bazaar to spur his imagination while moving from place to place with his family.