The River Has Roots: The Sweeping, Magical Solo Debut by the Best-Selling Co-Author of THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR

About the Book

* * * WINNER of the Nebula Award for BEST NOVELLA * * *

* * * WINNER of the Locus Award for BEST NOVELLA * * *

* * * Longlisted by the British Science Fiction Association for BEST SHORTER FICTION * * *

* * * Shortlisted for the Hugo Award for BEST NOVELLA * * *

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.

'Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.'

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 River Has Roots is the hugely acclaimed solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar.

Features beautiful interior illustrations.

About the Author :
Amal El-Mohtar is an author, editor and critic. Her short story 'Seasons of Glass and Iron' won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards and was a finalist for the World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Aurora, and Eugie Foster awards. She is the author of The Honey Month, a collection of poetry and prose written to the taste of twenty-eight different kinds of honey, and contributes criticism to NPR Books and The New York Times. Her fiction has most recently appeared on Tor.com and Uncanny Magazine, and in anthologies such as The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories and The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Carleton University and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Ottawa.

Review :
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 When it comes to storytelling, Amal El-Mohtar is like one of the grammarians of Thistleford, a magician capable of deftly transforming the familiar into the unfamiliar and the numinous into the humane. The River Has Roots is an utterly enchanting tale of love and longing, language and song, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood Gorgeous and glorious! Every sentence sings! Amal El-Mohtar weaves a lovely and poignant fairy tale that will linger in your heart 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 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 Amal El-Mohtar's genius fairytale reflects a truth we can never forget: words carry enormous power. The River Has Roots is truly exquisite The River Has Roots is a beautiful, musical, and loving story, perfectly rendered in El-Mohtar's beautiful, musical, and loving prose. This novella has all the dark comforts of an old tale and all the light vigors of a new classic, and will inspire you to raise your voice in song with those you love A powerful, gorgeous little story of sisterly love, the power of words, and revenge as a dish best served in verse A pitch-perfect story of love and sacrifice, yearning and discovery, like a classic folk tale, but freshly minted A rich and evocative story that's one part fairy tale, one part murder ballad, and one part ode to the magical power of language itself

One consequence of the spell that El-Mohtar weaves is that the reader is taken out of the mundane everyday world of seconds, minutes and hours. There are sentences and paragraphs here, not to
mention the riddles, which induce reverie and contemplation such that one loses track of the passage of time . . . All in all, this is a book to savour and wonder at.