In a deep forest, in some vague agrarian time period of horse carts and superstition, Peter and his father, Tomas, are woodcutters in a new town. Their simple lives are interrupted both by a series of strange deaths and by a group of gypsies who know something about Tomas’ past.

This slim novel, aimed at Young Adults, is the best vampire book I’ve read. It’s completely different from those other teen vampire books that are really more about identity, romance, and belonging. This feels like a folk tale that might have been passed around small communities in Central Europe. Based on research and imagination it feels almost like a companion to The Historian. It gave me goose bumps. (New in paperback.) ~Lillian