Thistlefoot Audiobook By GennaRose Nethercott cover art

Thistlefoot

A Novel

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Thistlefoot

By: GennaRose Nethercott
Narrated by: January LaVoy
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About this listen

In the tradition of modern fairy tales like 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 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.

©2022 GennaRose Nethercott (P)2022 Random House Audio
Contemporary Fairy Tales Fantasy Fiction Jewish World Literature Heartfelt Tearjerking Scary

Critic reviews

BOOK ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR • The Wall Street Journal • Washington Independent Review of Books • BookPage • Book Riot

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Tor • Paste • Business Insider • BuzzFeed • Library Journal • Literary Hub • Debutiful

JEWISH FICTION AWARD HONOREE

“Steeped in the ancient tropes of folk tales and animated by a passionate belief in the vital role of storytelling, GennaRose Nethercott’s first novel builds on her work as a folklorist and poet. . . . Gorgeously written . . . riveting and moving.”—Wendy Smith, The Washington Post

“At times solemn, at times playful, the [narrator] speaks to the reader like a storyteller to a crowd gathered around a campfire. . . . [Thistlefoot] balance[s] fun and solemnity, joy and suffering."—Mallory Yu, NPR

“An excellent dip into the darker side of Eastern European tales. . . . The author adriotly captures the challenges of adult sibling relationships in a story of survival and memory that is pure poetry, but never glosses over the violence of history.”—Liz Braswell, The Wall Street Journal

What listeners say about Thistlefoot

Highly rated for:

Captivating Storytelling Imaginative Folktale Retelling Incredible Narration Powerful Emotional Impact
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Ugly Crying

Loved this book, sobbed like a babe, laughed, and absolutely recommend it. I need more books like this in my life.

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2 people found this helpful

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Beautiful, frightening and inspiring

Just so beautifully done, terrifying at times, and triumphant in its finish. Loved it!

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1 person found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

I have never met such a pretentious house!

Way too much pretense, breaks the 4th wall in a way that does not work and detracts from the story. It's hard enough to get into this world without a house tryin' to convince you it's special and mysterious.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Wonderful performance

Great performance with all the different characters. Even though this is not the type of book I would normally read on my own, it was a great storyline and very descriptive writing.

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Perfectly crafted storytelling.

I adore this book- my favorite in a very long time. The perfectly poignant ending had me weeping. What a gift this book is.

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Fun Fairy-Tale Whimsy

This book is a well done, whimsical romp of an adventure. It is a casual fairy-tale style adventure story that is the perfect escape from your everyday doldrums.

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The best book you can ever stop listening to!

It has been a while since I have read or listened to a book that I could LITERALLY not put down/stop listening to, but this is one of those books. For fans of folklore, this is a retelling of the Baba Yaga character with a Jewish twist- 11/10 stars everyone should read this book!!!

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unique and captivating

A unique and captivating story. I thoroughly enjoyed this strange tale. The narrator was very good as well.

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Read It Anyway

This book made me sob. It was heartfelt and it was beautiful... well, the story was.

The construction of the book, however, not as great as it could have been. Reading this story was like seeing the intricate, colorful pieces of a quilt all laid out and knowing how wonderful the finished product could be... but, when it's finished, you realize the quilter was just learning to sew. The end result is still warm, it's still a work of art, but its flaws are very visible, and it makes you a little sad.

There were a lot of mistakes in this novel. The pacing was off, some scenes were too long, others too short. There were several interactions that didn’t seem well planned or researched, written with a ‘something has to go here to move the story forward’ feel to them. Some felt amazingly real. The juxtaposition is jarring when the writing in one place is great and in another it’s just not.

The presentation of magic was incomplete. It does not flow seamlessly into the world around it. Let’s return to the quilt analogy. You have a wonderful mosaic pattern all laid out but you have bought absolutely the wrong color to go with the rest of the scheme, but you sew it in anyway, trying to disperse it and make it look intentional. The concept is there, the thought is there, you know it's an integral part of the finished product but... it really just doesn't GO and it’s extremely obvious. There either needed to be more magic in the world or it needed to be rare and underground. I have trouble believing buildings can walk, run, blink or fly and be caught doing it on the news but we have issues with ‘Pinocchio becoming a real boy’, so to speak.

Regardless, I read and was extremely moved by the story the author wanted to tell. There was just… more that needed to be told and said and it makes me a little sad that it wasn’t.

All that being said… read it anyway.

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Great telling of a great story.

I really enjoyed January Lavoy. Beautiful voice, nice voices. The story was an interesting take on Baba Yaga which I enjoyed very much. There were a few bits of writing that were not smooth; mostly with metaphors and descriptions of some people but overall excellent story.

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