The Second Bell
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
To the world you are an abomination; a monster with unholy abilities. You're shunned and left to fend for yourself. Your only chance of survival is to tap into that dark potential - would you do it?
In an isolated mountain community, sometimes a child is born with two hearts. Such a child - a striga - is considered a dangerous demon, which must be abandoned on the edge of the forest to protect the community. The only choice the child's mother can make is whether to leave her home with her infant, or stay behind and try to forget.
Miriat made her choice. She and her nineteen-year-old striga daughter, Salka, now live a life of deprivation and hardship in a remote village, where to follow the impulses of the other heart is forbidden.
But Salka is headstrong and young, and when threatened with losing everything, she is forced to explore the depths of her true nature, testing the bonds between mother and child.
File Under: Fantasy [ Breaking Taboos | Hidden Shadows | Hungry Like the Wolf | Slavic Story ]
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Houston's sparkling debut invites readers to a mountain village where mothers of two-hearted striga children can eke out an existence, having been banished from Heyne Town for fear of the shadowy magic their children bear. Nineteen years after Salka's mother was exiled for giving birth to her, Salka and her friend Emila are led astray by Dran, the son of the striga village's leader, as he persuades the young women to join him on a forbidden foray into Heyne Town. Dran's mother is convinced that the transgression is Salka's fault and banishes her to a remote hut for three months. Since childhood, Salka has been taught to restrain her second heart's power lest it turn her into a monstrous stigoi, but, as winter sets in, she has no choice but to rely upon it to keep herself alive and, in doing so, she learns the truth of her powers. By going small, rather than epic, in scale, Houston is able to mark the significance of daily events, highlight her characters, and comment on humanity's capacity for othering. This intimate fantasy offers a heartfelt reflection on what it means to be human that is sure to please.
