
The Maiden and Her Monster
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Narrated by:
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Nikki Massoud
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By:
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Maddie Martinez
About this listen
“A dark and endlessly enchanting fairy tale…. I adored every page.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid
The Maiden and Her Monster is a gorgeous, atmospheric debut fantasy rooted in history, folklore, and sapphic romance—perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Ava Reid, Hannah Whitten, and Naomi Novik.
The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.
As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the wood’s curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution.
When she ventures into the shadowed woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only if Malka helps her fulfill a promise first and free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.
But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save—and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.
©2025 Maddie Martinez (P)2025 Macmillan AudioCritic reviews
“A dark and endlessly enchanting fairy tale, unfurled in frost and wood-smoke, the kind that is whispered by candlelight and brushes up against history itself. I adored every page.”—Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Reminiscent of the folktales of old, The Maiden and Her Monster is a beautifully haunting debut with sharp teeth. Maddie Martinez weaves words like a magic spell, ensnaring readers with her poignant prose and beguiling atmosphere.”―Chelsea Abdullah, award-winning author of The Stardust Thief
"The Maiden and Her Monster is an evocative, harrowing, and deeply romantic dark fantasy debut that will move so many readers the way it did me. Maddie Martinez is an incredible talent and definitely one to watch."—Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching and An Academy for Liars
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