“Vasya a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.” ( The Christian Science Monitor) “Arden’s debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.” ( The Washington Post) As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed - to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.īut Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent.

Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. 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 nurse’s fairy tales. “A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.” (Naomi Novik, best-selling author of Uprooted) As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed-to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales.Katherine Arden’s best-selling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice.

The bear and the nightingale series