Ava Reid

A dark, evocative and unforgettable fantasy debut steeped in Hungarian history and Jewish mythology, perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden. /// Stories don't have to be true to be real. . . . In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power. Outcasted and betrayed by her fellow villagers, Évike is surrendered as sacrifice to the Holy Order of Woodsmen. . . . But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother from seizing the throne. . . . As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. But trust can easily turn to betrayal, and Évike and Gáspár need to decide whose side they're on, and what they're willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.

The Wolf and the Woodsman

From highly acclaimed bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente. A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites. Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya's last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city's amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart. As Marlinchen's late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father's rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

Juniper & Thorn

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny. . . . 
Part historical fantasy, part rivals-to-lovers romance, part Gothic mystery, and all haunting, dreamlike atmosphere, Ava Reid's powerful YA debut will lure in readers who loved The Atlas Six, House of Salt and Sorrows, or Girl, Serpent, Thorn.

A Study in Drowning

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her. The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men. The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed. The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of survival, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive. But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world. She does not know this yet. But she will.

A Novel

Lady Macbeth

In post-atomic New York, one girl is selected to pay off her mother's debt by dying--or killing--in a televised Gauntlet but instead falls in love with the assassin, in this sapphic stand-alone postapocalyptic romance with a Hunger Games twist, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls and The Last of Us. Inesa has spent her whole life feeling like a land animal in a drowning world. She's grown up in a city that's sinking, after an Atomic Age claimed much of the country and left New Amsterdam amongst rising waters, buoyed only by Caerus, a company that sells everything from food to electricity, all on credit. And Inesa knows the price of going into the red, so she refuses to take on any debt. Melinoë works for Caerus, but not in their warehouse. Her job is to give the citizens of New Amsterdam hope and spectacle as a so-called Angel, by hunting and killing those who fall too deeply into debt in the televised Gauntlet. After nearly failing to complete her last mission, she has to prove her worth or she'll have her memory wiped and live the rest of her life as an empty shell, unwilling wife to some executive twice her age. When Inesa's mom secretly incurs over 500,000 credits of debt and nominates Inesa as a Lamb for the next Gauntlet, her only hope is to run--into Drowned County, the irradiated land between New Amsterdam and the Dominion of New England. With Melinoë tracking her, and mutated animals--and humans--attacking, Inesa will have to adapt or die. If she survives, Melinoë's life is over. That is, until they both end up stranded, injured, and isolated, and their only hope for survival is each other. When the cameras are off, can they become more than just an Angel and a Lamb? And what happens when they both want to do more than just survive? From Ava Reid, author of A Study in Drowning, comes a vital look at the cost of living, the many debts we incur, and the love we must fight for, all set in an eerily dark mirror of our own world.

Fable for the End of the World

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid comes a reimagining of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare’s most famous villainess, giving her a voice, a past, and a power that transforms the story men have written for her.

The Lady knows the stories: how her eyes induce madness in men.

The Lady knows she will be wed to the Scottish brute, who does not leave his warrior ways behind when he comes to the marriage bed.

The Lady knows his hostile, suspicious court will be a game of strategy, requiring all of her wiles and hidden witchcraft to survive.

But the Lady does not know her husband has occult secrets of his own. She does not know that prophecy girds him like armor. She does not know that her magic is greater and more dangerous, and that it will threaten the order of the world.

She does not know this yet. But she will.

Lady Makbeth

Study in Drowning

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN AND JUNIPER AND THORN 'A love letter to stories - and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling.' Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic. Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She's had no choice. Since childhood, she's been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She's found solace only in the pages of Angharad - a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him. Effy's tattered copy is all that's keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author's family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny. But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn't the only one who's made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin's papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud. As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author's legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house's foundation isn't the only thing that can't be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Ava Reid

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