In the tradition of modern fairy tales like Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver comes an immersive fantasy saga, a debut novel about estranged siblings who are reunited after receiving a mysterious inheritance.
âA wonderfully imaginative, wholly enchanting novel of witness, survival, memory, and family that reads like a fairy tale godfathered by Tim Burton in a wild America alive with wonders and devils alike. Thistlefoot shimmers with magic and mayhem and a thrilling emotional momentum.â âLibba Bray, bestselling author of The Diviners
The Yaga siblingsâBellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artistâhave been estranged since childhood, separated both by resentment and by wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, the siblings agree to meetâonly to discover that their bequest isnât land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.Â
Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagasâ ancestral home outside Kyivâbut not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past: fiery memories that have hidden in Isaac and Bellatineâs blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a final cross-country tour of their familyâs traveling theater show, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collideâerupting in a powerful conflagration to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future. Â
An enchanted adventure illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose as tantalizing and sweet as briar berries, Thistlefoot is a sweeping epic rich in Eastern European folklore: a powerful and poignant exploration of healing from multi-generational trauma told by a bold new talent.