The Blue Maiden: A dazzling feminist gothic about witches, loss and resilience

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'Haunting' NEW YORK TIMES
'A shimmering spell of a novel' EMMA TRZS
'Partly a young girl's coming of age, partly a treatise of the wildness of women' STEPHANIE DANLER
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It's 1825, generations since the women of Berggrund Island stood accused of witchcraft, many of them put to death. But the shadow of this violent past looms large over the isolated community.

Now, the island is overseen by Pastor Silas, a widower with two wild daughters, Beata and Ulrika. The sisters are outcasts: imaginative, rebellious, and consumed by a curiosity about their home's dark history and the mother they lost.

When an enigmatic outsider arrives at their door, his presence threatens their family bond and unearths a buried history to shocking ends...
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Readers are loving The Blue Maiden

'A beautifully told story'
'One of the most immersive novels I've read in ages'
'I loved loved this'
'A perfect read for the fall season'
'A fantastic Nordic Folk Horror'

Reviews

Haunting * New York Times *
The Blue Maiden contains a radiant mythology, a web of nature, eros, death and birth. It is partly a young girl's coming of age in the mid-nineteenth century, and partly a treatise of the wildness in women. There are witch trials, poisons, ghostly islands, superstitious lore, madness and suffering. But it's Anna Noyes's absolutely dazzling prose, each sentence wrought like iron, that gives this novel a stunning pathos and depth far beyond a gothic fairy tale. The Blue Maiden haunted me long after I put it down -- Stephanie Danler, author of SWEETBITTER
A spectacular novel of sisterly devotion and the sacred bonds formed of loss and secrecy. What a gift Noyes has bequeathed to us, her readers, and to the sub-genre of modern witcherature. Stole the sleep from my eyes until the early hours... Pure sorcery. * Chikodili Emelumadu, author of DAZZLING *
Backdropped by the aura and lore of the island, Noyes' captivating debut novel is a vivid journey into womanhood, self-discovery, and the bonds of family * Booklist *
This perfect book stands all on its own. It is so finely crafted, every word is essential, incantatory. Terrifying, but real. I loved it so much. * Jenny Slate, author of LITTLE WEIRDS *
This extraordinary novel turned me ravenous; I read in rapture, in awe. Noyes shows how lore sustains us, just as it stifles, and how the pain we inherit shapes who we become. Every sentence is resplendent, assured; every scene gripping and intimate. An exquisite homage to sisterhood, a treasure, a masterpiece. * Claire Luchette, author of AGATHA OF LITTLE NEON *
Anna Noyes writes like a witch. The Blue Maiden is a shimmering spell of a novel: mesmerizing, beautiful, and alive with pain, wonder, rage and love. The misty island followed me into my dreams and the sisters stayed with me long after I closed the cover. Simply stunning. * Emma Trzs, author of INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE *
A breathtaking story of sisterhood and secrets that gripped me from page one. Beata and Ulrika are magnetic, and their coming-of-age on wild Berggrund Island is a tale unlike any other, full of astonishing twists. The Blue Maiden is a knockout by a writer at the height of her exquisite powers. * Julie Buntin, author of MARLENA *

Author Bio

Anna Noyes' debut collection, Goodnight, Beautiful Women, was a finalist for the Story Prize and the New England Book Award, as well as a New York Times Editors' Choice, Indie Next Pick, Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, and Amazon Best Book of the Month. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in Vice, A Public Space, and Guernica, among others. She has received the Lotos Foundation Prize and the Henfield Prize, as well as residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, Lighthouse Works, the James Merrill House, and Aspen Words. She lives in New York, on Fishers Island.