2023 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature (nominee)
In the tradition of modern fairy tales like Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver comes an immersive fantasy saga, a debut novel about estranged siblings who are reunited after receiving a mysterious inheritance.
“A wonderfully imaginative, wholly enchanting novel of witness, survival, memory, and family that reads like a fairy tale godfathered by Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton in a wild America alive with wonders and devils alike. Thistlefoot shimmers with magic and mayhem and a thrilling emotional momentum.” —Libba Bray, bestselling author of The Diviners
The Yaga siblings—Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist—have been estranged since childhood, separated both by resentment and by wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, the siblings agree to meet—only to discover that their bequest isn’t land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.
Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas’ ancestral home outside Kyiv—but not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past: fiery memories that have hidden in Isaac and Bellatine’s blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a final cross-country tour of their family’s traveling theater show, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collide—erupting in a powerful conflagration to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future.
An enchanted adventure illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose as tantalizing and sweet as briar berries, Thistlefoot is a sweeping epic rich in Eastern European folklore: a powerful and poignant exploration of healing from multi-generational trauma told by a bold new talent.
Genre: Fantasy
“A wonderfully imaginative, wholly enchanting novel of witness, survival, memory, and family that reads like a fairy tale godfathered by Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton in a wild America alive with wonders and devils alike. Thistlefoot shimmers with magic and mayhem and a thrilling emotional momentum.” —Libba Bray, bestselling author of The Diviners
The Yaga siblings—Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist—have been estranged since childhood, separated both by resentment and by wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, the siblings agree to meet—only to discover that their bequest isn’t land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.
Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas’ ancestral home outside Kyiv—but not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past: fiery memories that have hidden in Isaac and Bellatine’s blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a final cross-country tour of their family’s traveling theater show, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collide—erupting in a powerful conflagration to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future.
An enchanted adventure illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose as tantalizing and sweet as briar berries, Thistlefoot is a sweeping epic rich in Eastern European folklore: a powerful and poignant exploration of healing from multi-generational trauma told by a bold new talent.
Genre: Fantasy
Praise for this book
"It's an exquisite and rare literary skillset that can produce a book so epic and adventurous in scope, yet so poetic and intimate at the sentence level. Thistlefoot isn't just reimagined folklore--what GennaRose Nethercott has managed to do with this beautiful, haunting novel is capture so many of the disparate meanings of inheritance: the joy, heartbreak and ever-moving nature of things passed down through blood and time. This is a book to be lived in, a wild and stunning ride." - Omar El Akkad
"GennaRose Nethercott is a literary trickster god who has crafted a wonderfully imaginative, wholly enchanting novel of witness, survival, memory, and family that reads like a fairy tale godfathered by Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton in a wild America alive with wonders and devils alike. Thistlefoot shimmers with magic and mayhem and a thrilling emotional momentum. Kill the lantern; Raise the ghost--the show is about to begin." - Libba Bray
"Like Neil Gaiman and Susanna Clarke, GennaRose Nethercott understands the precise alchemy of darkness and whimsy that comprise all the best fairytales. Thistlefoot is a near-perfect bedtime story for grown-ups." - Shaun Hamill
"The house of fiction might have a million windows, but GennaRose Nethercott gives it legs. She is half yente, half soothsayer, her sentences bubbling over with magic and commiseration. Thistlefoot is a brave bubbe-meise and a wily campfire tale, told with compassion, hope, and endless heart." - Hilary Leichter
"Irresistible, exuberant, and--appropriately--surefooted, GennaRose Nethercott's Thistlefoot brims over with earthy magic, picaresque adventures, and eccentric and formidable characters. It's a fabulous, weird, gorgeous book." - Kelly Link
"I have never found use for the word rollicking until I dove into Thistlefoot. This is a genuinely rollicking adventure. It rollicks very hard. It is skillfully stuffed with startling rollickers. Pick up this book and prepare to be thoroughly, comprehensively, joyfully rollicked." - Lemony Snicket
"GennaRose Nethercott is a literary trickster god who has crafted a wonderfully imaginative, wholly enchanting novel of witness, survival, memory, and family that reads like a fairy tale godfathered by Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton in a wild America alive with wonders and devils alike. Thistlefoot shimmers with magic and mayhem and a thrilling emotional momentum. Kill the lantern; Raise the ghost--the show is about to begin." - Libba Bray
"Like Neil Gaiman and Susanna Clarke, GennaRose Nethercott understands the precise alchemy of darkness and whimsy that comprise all the best fairytales. Thistlefoot is a near-perfect bedtime story for grown-ups." - Shaun Hamill
"The house of fiction might have a million windows, but GennaRose Nethercott gives it legs. She is half yente, half soothsayer, her sentences bubbling over with magic and commiseration. Thistlefoot is a brave bubbe-meise and a wily campfire tale, told with compassion, hope, and endless heart." - Hilary Leichter
"Irresistible, exuberant, and--appropriately--surefooted, GennaRose Nethercott's Thistlefoot brims over with earthy magic, picaresque adventures, and eccentric and formidable characters. It's a fabulous, weird, gorgeous book." - Kelly Link
"I have never found use for the word rollicking until I dove into Thistlefoot. This is a genuinely rollicking adventure. It rollicks very hard. It is skillfully stuffed with startling rollickers. Pick up this book and prepare to be thoroughly, comprehensively, joyfully rollicked." - Lemony Snicket
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