COMING 3.4.25
Dear Readers,
Have you ever wanted to pick a fight with a song?
This book – like rivers, and roots – had a long, meandering path through the world, but its source and seed was a seventeenth century folk ballad that I loved and wanted to fix. “The Cruel Sister” – and its many variants – is a ballad type where an older sister murders her younger sister for the love of a man.
As an eldest child who loves her younger sister more than anything, I had opinions about this! Not least of which: I couldn’t countenance the idea that a man could court two sisters at the same time and not be the villain of the story.
The River Has Roots is a love letter to ballads and the sisters who sing them together; to harp music and riddle songs; and to the landscape and history of Dartmoor, with its Stannary Towns and mysterious stone outcroppings that, whatever else they are, seem to mark a path into other worlds.
When This Is How You Lose the Time War came out in 2019, I couldn’t have been happier with its reception. I used to work in a bookstore, and felt so privileged to see This Is How You Lose the Time War on the receiving end of the kinds of passionate shelf-talkers and hand-selling that I used to do with Holly Black’s Tithe, Terri Windling’s The Wood Wife, and Hope Mirlees’ Lud-in-the-Mist. But seeing booksellers embrace the wild, madcap wonder of Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood last summer and be such kind stewards of that renewed enthusiasm was its own tremendous gift. Bookstores and booksellers have repeatedly changed my life for the better, and I’m so thrilled and excited to commit The River Has Roots – my solo debut! – into your hands. If this twisty little book finds its audience, I know it will be because of your generous work.
Wishing you all the very best,
Amal El-Mohtar
Amazon
The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
The hardcover edition features beautiful interior illustrations.
PRAISE FOR THE RIVER HAS ROOTS
"Gorgeous and glorious! Every sentence sings! Amal El-Mohtar weaves a lovely and poignant fairy tale that will linger in your heart."
—Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop
"This book is lyrical, elegant, and above all, kind. I devoured it in one sitting. This story feels like the smell of rain. This is a fairy tale wrapped in brilliant language. An absolute must-read. Amal El-Mohtar is quite simply one of the best writers on the scene in ages."
—T. Kingfisher, New York Times bestselling author of A Sorceress Comes To Call
"The River Has Roots is the perfect fable: both bright and brutal, very old and brand new. It's a story that outlasts itself, lingering like a song; I adored it.”
—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House
"Half delicious murder ballad, half beguiling love story, Amal El-Mohtar transports us to Faerieland so seamlessly it seems as though she just stepped out of it."
—Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Read What You Love & Love What You Read!
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