The Yaga siblings - Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist - have been estranged for years. However, when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, they 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 Yaps' ancestral home in Eastern Europe - 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. A sweeping adventure illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose as tantalizing and sweet as brierberries, Thistlefoot is an immersive modern fantasy by a bold new talent.
The Yaga siblings - Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist - have been estranged for years. However, when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, they 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 Yaps' ancestral home in Eastern Europe - 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. A sweeping adventure illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose as tantalizing and sweet as brierberries, Thistlefoot is an immersive modern fantasy by a bold new talent.