"This dazzling YA gem melds a thrilling high-stakes fairy tale scenario with suspenseful, slow-burn Sapphic romance"
“Love was a leap of faith”. “Love made life rich”. These sentiments underpin Kat Dunn’s fairy tale infused Bitterthorn, a brilliantly spun Sapphic love story that evokes elements of Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin and Sleeping Beauty to create an edge-of-your- seat, original story that throngs with longing.
An outsider in her own family, Mina lives in Blumwald, where her father is the duke. Haunted by loneliness and losing her mother, Mina finds solace walking in nature. Among the twisted trees, she “felt power in my independence: far, far safer to be alone than to want and be unwanted”.
At the same time, Blumwald lives under the shadow of a curse. Every fifty years, a Witch “would descend from her castle to take a companion. One young man plucked out and never seen again”. Around the anniversary of her mother’s death, Mina volunteers herself when the Witch comes to stake her claim. The first woman to go with the Witch, on arriving at the castle, Mina feels “trapped in a prison of my own foolish making”. In time, though, she moves from fear and “the pain of self-inflicted isolation” to wanting to understand the Witch and the secrets of the curse.
While the truths Mina discovers are terrifying, love, longing and the realisation that “other people can be salvation” leads her to take a courageous path. Suspenseful, atmospheric and romantic, this is an utterly enchanting tale.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
Blumwald is a town overshadowed by an ancient curse: in a sinister castle in the depths of the wild wood lives a monstrous Witch. Once a generation, she comes to claim a companion to return with her - never to be seen again.
Now that time is drawing near once more... Mina, daughter of the duke, is grieving and lonely. She has lost all hope of any future for herself in Blumwald. So when the Witch demands her next companion, Mina offers herself up - though she has no idea what fate awaits her.
Stranded with her darkly alluring captor, the mystery of what happened to the previous companions draws Mina into the heart of a terrifying secret that could save her life, or end it.
Bitterthorn features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Romance / Relationship Stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Fantasy romance, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Witches, wizards and magicians, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Historical fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Fantasy, Children’s / Teenage general interest: Mysteries and the unexplained, Children’s / Teenage: General interest
Bitterthorn is available in Ebook, Paperback
Bitterthorn was written by Kat Dunn and published by Andersen Press Ltd
Bitterthorn has 357 pages
£8.09
