The Bear and the Nightingale

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

Author: Katherine Arden
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Published: 01/10/2017
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.60w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781101885932

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5
Point Value: 14
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 509928 / Bear and the Nightingale


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/04/2016
Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2016 pg. 77
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2016 pg. 5
Booklist 10/15/2016 pg. 28
Library Journal 11/15/2016 pg. 76
BookPage 01/01/2017
Shelf Awareness 01/31/2017
School Library Journal 04/01/2017 pg. 161
Library Journal 09/01/2016

About the Author
Born in Austin, Texas, Katherine Arden spent a year of high school in Rennes, France. Following her acceptance to Middlebury College in Vermont, she deferred enrollment for a year in order to live and study in Moscow. At Middlebury, she specialized in French and Russian literature. After receiving her BA, she moved to Maui, Hawaii, working every kind of odd job imaginable, from grant writing and making crêpes to guiding horse trips. Currently she lives in Vermont, but really, you never know.