Thornhedge E-Book

T. Kingfisher

• Herausgeber: Titan Books
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

From USA Today bestselling author comes an original, subversive fairytale about a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways, perfect for fans of Alix E. Harrow and Katharine Arden. There's a princess trapped in a tower. This isn't her story. Meet Toadling. On the day of her birth, she was stolen from her family by the fairies, but she grew up safe and loved in the warm waters of faerieland. Once an adult though, the fae ask a favor of Toadling: return to the human world and offer a blessing of protection to a newborn child. Simple, right? If only. Centuries later, a knight approaches a towering wall of brambles, where the thorns are as thick as your arm and as sharp as swords. He's heard there's a curse here that needs breaking, but it's a curse Toadling will do anything to uphold...

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Leave us a Review

Copyright

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

“I opened, I devoured. Absolutely delightful and full of charm and truth.” Naomi Novik, New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education

“Toadling will break your heart and mend it at the same time, and that is how you know that Thornhedge is a story by T. Kingfisher. I loved this book so much.” Travis Baldree, New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes

“Immensely charming, unexpected, full of heart, I was utterly delighted by this incredibly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty.” Katherine Arden, bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

“Kingfisher never fails to dazzle.” Peter S. Beagle, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning author of The Last Unicorn

“Haunting and unusual—a unique retelling of a classic tale!” Tamora Pierce, New York Times bestselling author of the Tortall series

“The way Thornhedge turns all the fairy tales inside out is a sharp-edged delight.” Katherine Addison, author of The Goblin Emperor

“At every turn, Kingfisher subverts familiar fairytale tropes into a fresh, complex, and extremely human story about loneliness, and the protective barriers we put around ourselves.” Sunyi Dean, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Book Eaters

“Kingfisher weaves elements of fairy tale, folklore, and history in this beautifully crafted story of loss, endurance, terror, and kindness. Thornhedge is sheer magic from beginning to end!” Juliet Marillier, author of the Blackthorn & Grim and Warrior Bards series

“Kingfisher’s trademark wit and compassion transforms ‘Sleeping Beauty’ into a moving meditation on guilt, grief, and duty, as well as a surprisingly sweet romance between outsiders. There are no false notes here.” Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This marvelously fractured fairy tale takes a well-known and well-loved story and turns it completely around. . . Highly recommended for anyone who loves to see fables fractured into new and different shapes, similar to Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered.” Library Journal, starred review

LEAVE US A REVIEW

We hope you enjoy this book – if you did we would really appreciate it if you can write a short review. Your ratings really make a difference for the authors, helping the books you love reach more people.

You can rate this book, or leave a short review here:

Amazon.co.uk,

Goodreads,

Waterstones,

or your preferred retailer.

Thornhedge

Print edition ISBN: 9781803364230

E-book edition ISBN: 9781803364261

Broken Binding edition ISBN: 9781803368306

Published by Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP

www.titanbooks.com

First Titan edition: August 2023

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead (except for satirical purposes), is entirely coincidental.

© T. Kingfisher 2023. All Rights Reserved.

T. Kingfisher asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Also by T. Kingfisher and available from Titan Books

The Twisted Ones

The Hollow Places

Nettle & Bone

What Moves the Dead

A House with Good Bones

1

In the early days, the wall of thorns had been distressingly obvious. There was simply no way to hide a hedge with thorns like sword blades and stems as thick as a man’s thigh. A wall like that invited curiosity and with curiosity came axes, and it was all the fairy could do to keep some of those curious folk from gaining entrance to the tower.

Eventually, though, the brambles had grown up around the edges—blackberry and briar and dog rose, all the weedy opportunists—and that softened the edge of the thorn wall and gave the fairy some breathing room. Roving princes and penniless younger sons had been fascinated by the thorns, which were so obviously there to keep people out. Hardly anybody was interested in a bramble thicket.

It helped, too, that the land around the thorns became inhospitable. It was nothing so obvious as a desert, but wells ran dry practically as soon as they had been dug, and rain passed through the soil as if it were sand instead of loam. That was the fairy’s doing, too, though she regretted the necessity.

The fairy was the greenish-tan color of mushroom stems and her skin bruised blue-black, like mushroom flesh. She had a broad, frog-like face and waterweed hair. She was neither beautiful nor made of malice, as many of the Fair Folk are said to be.

Mostly she was fretful and often tired.

“How do they know?” she asked miserably. “Everyone who knew her should be dead of old age by now—them and their children, too! Their grandchildren should be gray-haired. How do they even remember there’s a tower here?”