The spellbinding story of a young woman’s dangerous passion as it plays out over the course of an eerie summer
In their remote Viking settlement, Folkvíand her brother, Áslakr, have always been close—unnaturally close. They’ve grown more intimate still as Folkví learns her shaman mother’s craft, as men regard her with newly devouring eyes. Then illness carries off their parents, and the nest of home is shattered. Áslakr sets off on his first expedition, abandoning Folkví to the dark of an endless winter. When he returns, he’s done the unthinkable: He’s found someone else to love.
Sick with grief, Folkví rages to the gods where they sit at the foot of an ancient tree, contemplating the twisted passions of humans that play out in the face of an ever-approaching end of days. Will none of them save her now? Very well, Folkví will save herself. The wedding date is set. But first comes a fateful summer. . .
Deeply unsettling and brilliantly imagined, First Comes Summer captures the terror of losing the world you’ve always known—and the uncanny extremes to which you might go to hold on to it.
Genre: Mystery
In their remote Viking settlement, Folkvíand her brother, Áslakr, have always been close—unnaturally close. They’ve grown more intimate still as Folkví learns her shaman mother’s craft, as men regard her with newly devouring eyes. Then illness carries off their parents, and the nest of home is shattered. Áslakr sets off on his first expedition, abandoning Folkví to the dark of an endless winter. When he returns, he’s done the unthinkable: He’s found someone else to love.
Sick with grief, Folkví rages to the gods where they sit at the foot of an ancient tree, contemplating the twisted passions of humans that play out in the face of an ever-approaching end of days. Will none of them save her now? Very well, Folkví will save herself. The wedding date is set. But first comes a fateful summer. . .
Deeply unsettling and brilliantly imagined, First Comes Summer captures the terror of losing the world you’ve always known—and the uncanny extremes to which you might go to hold on to it.
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"This lucent, poetic, mysterious novel takes us deep into the shrouded past, into an ancient world that is both utterly alien and achingly, recognizably human. First Comes Summer is a miniature masterpiece." - Dan Chaon
"A terrifying tale about the special madness of obsessive love. Masterfully told, with an ending that will leave you speechless." - Alma Katsu
"Marvelously imagined and fiercely real, First Comes Summer has a tender brutality to it that feels timeless and fresh at the same time. Engrossing, primal, and very very beautiful." - Alexandra Kleeman
"A terrifying tale about the special madness of obsessive love. Masterfully told, with an ending that will leave you speechless." - Alma Katsu
"Marvelously imagined and fiercely real, First Comes Summer has a tender brutality to it that feels timeless and fresh at the same time. Engrossing, primal, and very very beautiful." - Alexandra Kleeman
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