Ink Blood Sister Scribe

Ink Blood Sister Scribe explores the ways perceptions of familial relationships and estrangements affect personal identity. Esther and Joanna function as foils in their circumstances and estrangement but move toward reconciliation; both Nicholas and Esther experience motherlessness as part of their identity and seek a connection with Maram, who is reluctant to fill maternal roles. Törzs connects familial relationships, with a focus on absence and estrangement, with conceptions of personal identity throughout the novel. The novel therefore emphasizes the intersection between how individuals conceptualize their relationships with family members and how they conceptualize themselves.

The relationship between Esther and Joanna is central to the novel’s plot and relationship to its magical elements. Physically, they are estranged by Esther’s need to travel and Joanna’s need to protect the books in Vermont. Joanna can hear magical books but cannot write magic, and Esther is immune to magic but is a Scribe who can write it; these facts are central to both of their identities, as well as how they think about their estrangement. The realization of their difference is described as “a turning point […] a line drawn between her sister, who could not only read magic but also hear it, and Esther herself, who could not” (55).