This Poison Heart
From the author of the TikTok sensation Cinderella is Dead
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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'Kalynn Bayron does more than re-write a fairy-tale ... She breaks it apart and rebuilds it into a wholly original and captivating story where girls finally decide for themselves who lives happily ever after' - Brigid Kemmerer
'A delicious mix of intoxicating fantasy and coming of age, steeped in Greek mythology and peppered with references to the Jordan Peele films Get Out and Us' - Observer New Review
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Poison runs through her veins ...
Ever since she can remember, Briseis has had power over plants. Flowers bloom in her footsteps and leaves turn to face her as though she were the sun. It's a power she and her adoptive mothers have spent her whole life trying to hide. And then Briseis inherits an old house from her birth mother and suddenly finds herself with the space and privacy to test her powers for the first time.
But as Briseis starts to bring the house's rambling garden back to life, she finds she has also inherited generations of secrets. A hidden altar to a dark goddess, a lineage of witches stretching back to ancient times, and a hidden garden overgrown with the most deadly poisonous plants on earth. And Briseis's long-departed ancestors aren't going to let her rest until she accepts her place as the keeper of the terrible power that lies at the heart of the Poison Garden.
Cinderella Is Dead author Kalynn Bayron brings a message of proud inclusivity to this empowering fantasy about a young woman finding the strength to challenge everything she has been told is true.
Don't miss the sequel, This Wicked Fate, where to save the people she loves, Briseis must change the most dangerous of fates ahead of her ...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this smart and atmospheric sophomore effort, the opener to a planned duology, Bayron (Cinderella Is Dead) presents the trials of adopted Brooklynite Briseis, a Black teen with the ability to control plants. Bri's powers are greater than even she knows, until a dangerous accidental brush with water hemlock reveals that she is impervious to poisonous plants. Just as Bri and her two moms face the possibility of losing their flower shop to gentrification, Bri receives an inheritance from her late birth mother's sister: a house and 40 acres in Upstate New York. Yet summer in Rhinebeck reveals that there's more to Bri's inheritance than a sprawling mansion: she soon encounters a fully stocked apothecary, a garden full of deadly vegetation—and countless strangers seeking access to it—and secrets about her birth family and her own powers. Bayron weaves science and Greek mythology into a captivating lore that lends weight to this fantastical contemporary story. She conjures entertaining and realistic dialogue and attentive characterization, while incisive descriptions and sumptuous prose evoke a wonderfully gothic atmosphere. Ages 13–up.
