

The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic.

“An extraordinary retelling of a very old tale. The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderfully layered novel of family and the harsh wonders of deep winter magic.” -Robin Hobb an immersive, earthy story of folk magic, faith, and hubris, peopled with vivid, dynamic characters, particularly clever, brave Vasya, who outsmarts men and demons alike to save her family.” - Booklist (starred review) with an irresistible heroine who wants only to be free of the bonds placed on her gender and claim her own fate.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) will enchant readers from the first page. “Vasya a clever, stalwart girl determined to forge her own path in a time when women had few choices.” -The Christian Science Monitor “Arden’s debut novel has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.” - The Washington Post I read The Bear and the Nightingale for the first time in 2018. As the village’s defenses weaken and evil from the forest creeps nearer, Vasilisa must call upon dangerous gifts she has long concealed-to protect her family from a threat sprung to life from her nurse’s most frightening tales. A large pleasure in re-reading a favorite book is to experience that sense of almost-newness: to recognize and relive everything again exactly as it was, page by page, and yet to submit, completely and wholeheartedly, to the promise of discovery. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.īut Vasya’s stepmother only grows harsher, determined to remake the village to her liking and to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for marriage or a convent.

Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow.

Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Winter lasts most of the year at the edge of the Russian wilderness, and in the long nights, Vasilisa and her siblings love to gather by the fire to listen to their nurse’s fairy tales. “A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.”-Naomi Novik, bestselling author of Uprooted Here we will look at pictures of homes of different animals, birds, and insects and what are they called in English.Katherine Arden’s bestselling debut novel spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice. Some animals will even build homes to hide from predators. Similarly, animals need a home where they can feel safe and secure from outside dangers, where they can lay their eggs, raise their young, and sleep at night for protection from the cold and hot, and harsh weather conditions.
