The Bear and the Nightingale: A Novel (Winternight Trilogy Book 1)
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A wild and willful young woman finds herself at the center of a tale of spirits, ancient evils, and the mysterious winter-king Frost—in the lyrical first novel of the Winternight Trilogy.
“A beautiful deep-winter story, full of magic and monsters and the sharp edges of growing up.”—Naomi Novik, bestselling author of Uprooted
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. Above all, Vasya loves the story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon. Wise Russians fear him, for he claims unwary souls, and they honor the spirits that protect their homes from evil.
Then Vasya’s widowed father brings home a new wife from Moscow. Fiercely devout, Vasya’s stepmother forbids her family from honoring their household spirits, but Vasya fears what this may bring. And indeed, misfortune begins to stalk the village.
But 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. 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.
“[The Bear and the Nightingale] has the cadence of a beautiful fairy tale but is darker and more lyrical.”—The Washington Post
Don't miss any of the Winternight Trilogy:
THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE • THE GIRL IN THE TOWER • THE WINTER OF THE WITCH
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Community Reviews
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Readers say *The Bear and the Nightingale* is a beautifully atmospheric blend of Russian folklore and fantasy, praised for its lyrical prose, vivid wo...
Magical... This book is based on old Russian fairytales which are sprinkled through the book as told by Dunya, the old nurse and grandmother figure of this story. She raised Marina, daughter of the"swan-maiden" that bewitched Ivan I into marrying him. Even though it is a hard winter, Marina wants a daughter like her mother, one who could tame animals and see the future. Marina dies giving birth to Vasya (short for Vailisa), who has green eyes like the sea and has the second sight (can see the magical world). Wild and free-spirited, Vasya is always outdoors and makes friends with the guardians of the forest. When her father remarries a devout Christian woman named Anna and a new priest named Konstantin arrives in the village, the guardians and the old ways are pushed aside and fear of angering God causes an imbalance in the world. A demon known as the Bear, master of nightmares, awakens and feeds on the people's fear and awakens the dead. The demon's brother and master, Frost/Death, struggles to control him. Vasya is warned in dreams similar to the fairytales told by Dunya about what is happening. Anna and Konstantin help spread the fear among the village that Vasya is a witch and that Vasya's sin and witchcraft is causing their suffering. As the "real" world collides with the magical world, Vasya must use all her bravery and magic she can find within herself to try and save her village, no matter what the cost.
There was so many fairytales in this book that I was trying to remember and figure out how they may be related to what was going on currently in the story that it almost seemed like a mystery book, trying to fit all the clues together. This book was beautifully written. I could feel the cold and the fear and the hopelessness and panic that Vasya felt having no control in the decisions that shaped her life and her future:
“Why are you frightened, Vasilisa Petrovna?” “Do not you know, Batyushka?” she said. Her laugh was soft and desperate. “You were frightened when they sent you here. You felt the forest closing about you like a fist; I could see it in your eyes. But you may leave if you will. There is a whole wide world waiting for a man of God, and already you have drunk the water of Tsargrad and seen the sun on the sea. While I …” He could see the panic rising in her again, and so he strode forward and seized her arm. “Hush,” he said. “Do not be a fool; you are making yourself frightened.” She laughed again. “You are right,” she said. “I am foolish. I was born for a cage, after all: convent or house, what else is there?” “You are a woman,” said Konstantin. He was still holding her arm; she stepped back and he let her go. “You will accept it in time,” he said. “You will be happy.”
This is supposed to be the first book in a series so I am looking forward to book 2-- it can't be released soon enough.
I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley for review consideration.
There was so many fairytales in this book that I was trying to remember and figure out how they may be related to what was going on currently in the story that it almost seemed like a mystery book, trying to fit all the clues together. This book was beautifully written. I could feel the cold and the fear and the hopelessness and panic that Vasya felt having no control in the decisions that shaped her life and her future:
“Why are you frightened, Vasilisa Petrovna?” “Do not you know, Batyushka?” she said. Her laugh was soft and desperate. “You were frightened when they sent you here. You felt the forest closing about you like a fist; I could see it in your eyes. But you may leave if you will. There is a whole wide world waiting for a man of God, and already you have drunk the water of Tsargrad and seen the sun on the sea. While I …” He could see the panic rising in her again, and so he strode forward and seized her arm. “Hush,” he said. “Do not be a fool; you are making yourself frightened.” She laughed again. “You are right,” she said. “I am foolish. I was born for a cage, after all: convent or house, what else is there?” “You are a woman,” said Konstantin. He was still holding her arm; she stepped back and he let her go. “You will accept it in time,” he said. “You will be happy.”
This is supposed to be the first book in a series so I am looking forward to book 2-- it can't be released soon enough.
I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley for review consideration.
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