Hardcover, 336 pages
English language
Published Aug. 6, 2024 by Tor Publishing Group.
Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house—and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him.
But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers.
When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman …
Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house—and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him.
But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers.
When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.
Surprisingly (to me) dark fantasy about a girl whose abusive mother is trying to seduce and manipulate her way into the aristocracy
With a young girl caught in the middle. I have yet to meet a book by T Kingfisher I didn’t enjoy and this keeps the streak alive. Magic is mostly just a thing of myth, except when it comes to Cordelia’s mother, and when she decides she needs a husband and sets her sights on a well-to-do squire, Cordelia is caught in the middle between her mother and Hester, the old maid who runs the house with extreme pragmatism and a good heart.
Content warning on this book for an abusive manipulative parent, but dang a controlling parent is more unnerving and horrifying than any supernatural monster. This might be my favorite of Kingfisher’s horror fairy tale books, right up there with Bryony and Roses.
