Drawing on the dark fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, this new novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrow is a sweeping, fantastical saga of actions and consequences.
All gifts come with a price.
Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn't like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfatherMerrick, the Dreaded Endto arrive. When he does, he lays out exactly how he's planned Hazel's future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill.
To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses the young girl with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick. But all gifts come with a price. Hazel also recieves the ability to see the image of a deathshead upon her patientand is tasked with the duty of ending their suffering, permanently.
Hazel grows up, faithfully healing her patients and providing a swift, merciful end to those who the deathshead determines must die. Haunted by the ghosts of those she's killed, Hazel longs to run and, when a boy from a neighboring farm proposes, she accepts and they plan to escape.
But when tradgedy strikes, Hazel must make an impossible choiceand accept the unimaginable consquences.