The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill
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4.0 • 9 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
"A warm-hearted yet fierce fairy tale."―H. G. Parry
In the early 1900s, two sisters must navigate the magic and the dangers of the Fae in this enchanting and cozy historical fantasy about sisterhood and self-discovery.
There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier—a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop.
Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister’s wedding day.
When Delphine confides her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape him. Small bargains buy them time, but a major one is needed. Yet, the price for true freedom may be more than they’re willing to pay.
Praise for The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill:
"Brimming with folk magic and delightfully sinister hidden worlds. Truly enchanting.”―Leslye Penelope
"A beautifully written tale of feminine power, sisterly devotion, and magic as old as the hills themselves.”―Louisa Morgan
For more from Rowenna Miller, check out:
The Unraveled Kingdom
Torn
Fray
Rule
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Miller (the Unraveled Kingdom series) takes readers to the turn-of-the-20th-century Midwest for this flawed but atmospheric standalone historical fantasy. Sisters Alaine and Delphine have been raised on their grandfather's tale of how a fairy encounter gained him the family farm, and on their grandmother's lore of how to make small, safe, everyday bargains with unseen fae. Alaine is devoted to the farm, while Delphine marries a man from the city. Both paths have their bumps, and as the sisters' struggles slowly build, so too does their willingness to break their grandmother's rules and make increasingly dangerous deals with the fae. There's a touch of Faust to the plot, and a bit of Frozen, too. The storytelling has a YA vibe in its simplified conflicts and improbabilities: if the farm is threatened by foreclosure, for instance, where is cash coming from for silk dresses and watercolor paints? In a purely historical novel, the glossed-over detail and lack of grit would be fatal, but the fairies are the point here, and Miller conjures them fully at last alongside a thoughtful meditation on sisterhood and priorities. It's not revelatory, but it has its charms.
