As mentioned in my Darling Girl: A Novel of Peter Pan review, I loved watching Peter Pan while growing up. However, I recognize the problematic elements of the story like the depiction of the native people and the title character being awful. There have been retellings that have tried to reconcile those aspects. The most successful ones acknowledge the problematic parts while truly understanding what made the tale special in the first place. The aforementioned Darling Girl is one of those stories that does it right, and another is today’s subject Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
Sisters of the Neversea is another modern retelling of Peter Pan. Instead of focusing on the boy who never grew up, it tells the story of Native American girl Lily and her British stepsister Wendy. Lily and Wendy have been best friends since they became stepsisters. However, their parents plan to spend the summer apart, which puts the family as well as the sisters’ relationship in limbo. One night, a boy comes through the window and intends to take them away along with their brother Michael from their home to a place called Neverland. Will Lily and Wendy find a way to get back to the family they love?
This is the third novel that I’ve read from Cynthia Leitich Smith. The other two were Rain is Not My Indian Name and Hearts Unbroken. Sisters of the Neversea the first one that I’ve read since starting this series. By having a native author, the book confronts an aspect of the Peter Pan story that is easily the most problematic: the portrayal of the indigenous people. In the original story by J.M. Barrie and in subsequent adaptations, they play a small role with Peter saving Tiger Lily from Captain Hook and the peace scene afterwards (which sometimes results in a racist song). Then, they disappear from the rest of the plot. Because of the focus on the native characters, the novel isn’t able to follow the original J.M. Barrie tale exactly, but it still covers the basics.
Sisters of the Neversea effectively brings that aspect to the forefront not only with including multiple native children from various tribes on Neverland, but also with Lily being indigenous herself (she is from the Muscogee Creek Nation). Each of the indigenous kids on Neverland also have distinct personalities, and one of them is even a two spirit. In addition, Lily was always suspicious of Peter, and she’s afraid of flying. Her initial fear gets her left behind Wendy and Michael, but once she thinks happy thoughts, she flies to Neverland in order to rescue them.
I also like Lily and Wendy as individual characters as well as their relationship as stepsisters. Smith portrays them in a way that many fairy tales do: as opposite as possible. Lily is the one who likes facts, but she can be too serious at times. Meanwhile, Wendy is the storyteller and loves using her imagination, but doesn’t always use her common sense. Instead of pitting them against each other, the author continuously acknowledges their strengths and their flaws by emphasizing how they complement each other. Lily learns to let go and enjoy things around her, especially when she’s flying, and Wendy utilizes the trivia that she heard from her stepsister. Plus, they work together to rescue Michael and to confront Peter about his shortcomings.
Another character that I liked in this retelling is Belle aka Tinkerbell. She is a sassy and glamorous fairy, who is often annoyed with Peter. Over the course of the book, she realizes that her enabling allowed Peter to destroy the island in a variety of ways, including endangering animals, even though all she meant to do was to protect him. I especially like how the novel handles the famous “I believe in fairies” bit when Belle is at her lowest.
The portrayal of Peter Pan here is not much different from the one in Darling Girl. He’s controlling, manipulative, sexist, and racist. Both Lily and Wendy express concern over this, and yet, under his “spell,” they fly away to Neverland. At the same time, readers get to see what made him think that way, especially the books that he possesses. He’s also able to have a character arc, in which he realizes that he’s the source of Neverland’s problems. After that, he at least attempts to become a better person.
In addition, I like how the book expresses the logic of Neverland and its byproducts. Along with thinking happy thoughts, the more dust one is given, the more one is able to fly and their personality gets magnified. So if one is naturally prideful, they get even more so with that magic. In this way, whoever gets the dust doesn’t feel like themselves when they fly, hence the reason why Peter Pan is able to convince many to join him in Neverland.
Furthermore, I love the worldbuilding in the novel. In previous adaptations, Neverland is an island containing a variety of groups like pirates, mermaids (merfolk in this book), and the aforementioned native people, and it looks like paradise. In Sisters of the Neversea, the island functions on its own time, as in minutes can literally be hours and vice versa. It can also stretch itself, so a 5-minute walk to the Home Under the Ground can be miles. In the meantime, the book also explains why there’s no adults, and the reason makes Peter all the more evil.
The only thing that I have to nitpick is how the narrator goes “You may be wondering…” or “In case you’re wondering…” on various occasions. Initially, I rolled my eyes over those parts because it felt condescending. But then again, from what I understand, it’s from the original Peter Pan book Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie. It’s the kind of narration that’s not used much anymore in today’s books. When I realized that, I became more used to that omnipresent third-person style. Also, I would love to see the narrators from this novel and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng interact sometime.
Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith is the best book that I’ve read from this author so far. It’s a great retelling of a classic story that’s in serious need of an update. I would recommend to those who love Peter Pan in any iteration, middle-grade fantasy novels, works by indigenous authors, and reworkings of famous tales. Like Darling Girl, Sisters of the Neversea passes with flying colors!
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Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything 