LoveReading4Kids Says
Inspired by the author’s love of Slavic mythology and childhood summers in the Polish countryside, Where the Dark Stands Still is an arresting feminist reimagining of Beauty and the Beast. The writing is beautiful — poetic and precise, delicate and mesmerising as a finely-spun web as it tells the story of a girl’s search for freedom from her past, and from her dangerous magic.
Amidst summer solstice celebrations, Liska leaves her village in search of the blooming fern flower that might just save her: “She knows what rumours the villagers whisper: that she is a witch, that she is as wicked as the magic harboured in the spirit wood”. If she finds the flower, she will ask it to grant her wish to be free from the magic that’s long cursed her, with the ultimate aim of proving to her villagers that “she is not dangerous”.
Moments into her quest, Liska encounters the Leszy demon and strikes up a bargain with him. She will spend a year in servitude in his crumbling gothic House Under the Rowan Tree before returning to her village, with her magic gone. But then comes unsettling knowledge — she’s not the first to have done this, and there are other demons to face, too.
Tingling with the tension of desire, secrets and a longing to feel at home, Where the Dark Stands Still possesses the power to make time stand still.
Joanne Owen
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Where the Dark Stands Still Synopsis
'Where the Dark Stands Still is a triumph; a deeply romantic debut with spiralling, atmospheric prose that swept me up and away to the enchanted forests of Polish folklore. You'll never want to leave this beautiful, magical world'. Sarah Underwood, NYT Bestselling Author of Lies We Sing to the Sea
A sweeping gothic fairytale romance for fans of Belladonna by Adalyn Grace and Gallant by V.E. Schwab.
Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters.
After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood - the Leszy - who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish.
Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to strike this bargain and all of her predecessors have mysteriously vanished. If Liska wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host's spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past.
Those who enter the wood do not always return . . .
'Treading a tender line between unnerving and enchanting, Poranek's writing is lyrical and atmospheric. With a beautiful grumpy/sunshine romance, Where The Dark Stands Still is a poignant and magical tale' Bea Fitzgerald, bestselling author of Girl, Goddess, Queen
'An enchanting spell of a read, woven through with petal-soft romance and roots-deep self-acceptance. The dark, gothic fairy tale of my dreams' Kika Hatzopoulou, author of the Sunday Times Bestseller Threads that Bind
'Folkloric and beautiful, Where The Dark Stands Still invites you to stray from the safe paths into a darkly whimsical fairytale forest, where secrets and bargains lead to tentative hope' Lyndall Clipstone, author of Unholy Terrors and the World at the Lake's Edge duology.
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9780241622179 |
Publication date: |
9th January 2025 |
Author: |
A.B. Poranek |
Publisher: |
Penguin Books an imprint of Penguin Random House Children's UK |
Format: |
Paperback |
Pagination: |
320 pages |