The River Has Roots
The Sweeping, Magical Solo Debut by the Best-Selling Co-Author of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
* * * WINNER of the Hugo Award for BEST NOVELLA * * *
* * * WINNER of the Nebula Award for BEST NOVELLA * * *
* * * WINNER of the Locus Award for BEST NOVELLA * * *
* * * Longlisted by the British Science Fiction Association for BEST SHORTER FICTION * * *
Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
'Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.'
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family's latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters' bond but also their lives will be at risk...
The River Has Roots is the hugely acclaimed solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar.
Features beautiful interior illustrations.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This spellbinding fairy tale, the solo debut from Hugo Award winner El-Mohtar (coauthor of This Is How You Lose the Time War), introduces the Hawthorn family, who have tended the willow trees separating their human village from the land of Faerie, also known as Arcadia, for generations. The magical willow wood is most often harvested for practical things like furniture or wandmaking, but through the years a "foolhardy few" have been brave and reckless enough to attempt to harvest magic directly from the trees. The latest generation of caretakers are sisters Esther and Ysabel, who fulfill their family's pact to the land by singing to the willows every night to thank them for their magic. Though the sisters are inseparable as children, as they grow older their interests diverge—a rift exacerbated by Esther's romantic entanglement with a mysterious Arcadian called Rin. When the sisters' smarmy neighbor, Samuel Pollard, becomes insistent in his proposition to marry Esther and thereby expand both their families' businesses, Esther must decide once and for all between her mortal ties and her love for Rin. Though the abstract magic system, dubbed "grammar," proves difficult to grasp, El-Mohtar's ethereal prose paints a clear picture of the unbreakable bond between her worthy heroines. Readers will be captivated.
