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Thornhedge

by T. Kingfisher

A thorny reworking of a fairy-tale curse

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A thorny reworking of a fairy-tale curse

A familiar fairy-tale image—a princess in a tower—opens onto a different story, centered on Toadling, a toad-shaped heroine raised in faerieland. Asked by the fae to protect a newborn in the human world, she becomes bound to a curse that, centuries later, a knight arrives hoping to break. The tension turns on the gap between the knight’s mission and Toadling’s determination to preserve the curse. With fairies, a bramble barrier, and a heroine whose role resists the expected fairy-tale pattern, the novella puts a fresh emphasis on who gets to define rescue and protection.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in fairy-tale retellings that shift attention away from the imprisoned princess.
  • Readers who enjoy fantasy involving fairies, curses, knights, and a nontraditional heroine.

Themes

Fairy-tale revisionProtection and dutyCurses and rescue

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novella!

From New York Times bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.


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?

But nothing with fairies is ever simple.

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...

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

Also by T. Kingfisher
Nettle & Bone
A Sorceress Comes to Call
What Moves the Dead
What Feasts at Night
A House with Good Bones

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