• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12
• Reading age: 14 to 18

A New York Times bestseller

A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon to be free of her monstrous power in this “dark, devastating, and gothic” (Kirkus Reviews) young adult fantasy perfect for fans of An Enchantment of Ravens and House of Salt and Sorrows.

Liska knows that magic is monstrous, and its practitioners are monsters. She has done everything possible to suppress her own magic, to disastrous consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska flees her small village and delves into the dangerous, demon-inhabited spirit-wood to steal a mythical fern flower. If she plucks it, she can use its one wish to banish her powers. Everyone who has sought the fern flower has fallen prey to unknown horrors, so when Liska is caught by the demon warden of the wood—called The Leszy—a bargain seems better than death: one year of servitude in exchange for the fern flower and its wish.

Whisked away to The Leszy’s crumbling manor, Liska soon makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain, and all her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her taciturn host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts—figurative and literal—of his past. Because something wakes in the woods, something deadly and without mercy. It frightens even The Leszy…and cannot be defeated unless Liska embraces the monster she’s always feared becoming.

A. B. Poranek grew up in Canada but spent her summers in the Polish countryside, reading under apple trees and helping care for her grandfather’s chickens. Her love of animals led her to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine, though she never stopped writing along the way. Her first novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, a New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland’s wild woodlands, wilder folktales, and the girls who were raised by them. She’s also the author of A Treachery of Swans.

A.B. Poranek's profile page

"Fans of romantic Gothic fantasy mixed with Polish folklore will appreciate this novel."

4/1/24

** "A beautifully written story of self-acceptance, sacrifice, and forgiveness. With echoes of Eastern European folklore, the fairy tale beats are immediately recognizable: a clever girl shunned from her community, a terrifying but possibly misunderstood monster, a bargain that brings them together in an enchanted wood. Poranek, like fantasy author Robin McKinley, elevates the familiar narrative through poetic symbolism, fully developed characters, and a skillful balance of darkness and whimsy."

<I>BCCB</I>, starred review

"Interweaving harrowing scenes of demon hunting terror with quiet moments of domestic life simmering with romantic tension, Poranek employs lush prose to craft a Polish folklore and culture–influenced fantasy realm through which the debut author capably examines themes of trauma, repression, and the healing power of unconditional acceptance."

11/27/2023

"Dark, devastating, and gothic."

11/15/23