The Bear and the Nightingale

The Bear and the Nightingale
ISBN: 9781101885956
Publication Date: 27 June 2017

Katherine Ardens bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice.

A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up. Naomi Novik, bestselling author of Uprooted

Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurses fairy tales. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.

Then Vasyas widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasyas stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.

But Vasyas stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent. As the villages defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealedto protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurses most frightening tales.

Praise for The Bear and the Nightingale

Ardens debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.The Washington Post

Vasya [is] a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.***The Christian Science Monitor***

Stunning . . . will enchant read...