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The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark . . .
An atmospheric dark fantasy rooted in fairytales, folklore, and sapphic romance. The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez is perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Ava Reid, and Naomi Novik.
As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the forest's curse has plagued her village. But the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to listen to heretics with false tales of monsters in the trees.
When a clergy girl wanders too close to the woods and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings him the monster, he will spare her mother from execution.
When she ventures into the blood-soaked woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only after Malka helps her fulfil an ancient promise by freeing the imprisoned rabbi who created her.
But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain unravels 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.
Author: Maddie Martinez
Paperback Published 16 September 2025 352 pages
‘A dark and endlessly enchanting fairy tale’ – Ava Reid, No. 1New York Timesbestselling author ofA Study in Drowning
‘A gorgeous dark fantasy rendered in detail sharp as a tailor’s needle’ – S. T. Gibson, No. 1Sunday Timesbestselling author ofA Dowry of Blood