In this tour de force, master storyteller Gregory Maguire offers a dazzling novel for fantasy lovers of all ages.

Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside. Her father has been dead for years. One of her brothers has been conscripted into the Tsar's army, the other taken as a servant in the house of the local landowner. Her mother is dying, slowly, in their tiny cabin. And there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying untold wealth, a cornucopia of food, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in Saint Petersburg -- a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena's age. When the two girls' lives collide, an adventure is set in motion, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and -- in a starring role only Gregory Maguire could have conjured -- Baba Yaga, witch of Russian folklore, in her ambulatory house perched on chicken legs.

Author: Gregory Maguire
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: 09/09/2014
Pages: 496
Weight: 1.7lbs
Size: 8.40h x 6.10w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780763672201
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.6
Point Value: 17
Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus
Quiz #/Name: 168143 / Egg & Spoon


Award: 2015 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards Honor Book - Fiction


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 07/01/2014 pg. 106
Booklist 07/01/2014 pg. 79
Publishers Weekly 07/07/2014
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2014
Romantic Times 09/01/2014 pg. 68 - Excellent
New York Times Book Review 08/24/2014 pg. 9
Kirkus Reviews Fall Preview 08/15/2014 pg. 78
Horn Book Magazine 09/01/2014 pg. 115
People Weekly 08/31/2014 pg. 22
Shelf Awareness 09/19/2014
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2014 pg. 166
PW Children's Starred Reviews 12/01/2014 pg. 96
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 12/07/2014 pg. 35
SLJ's Best Books 12/01/2014 pg. 25
Kirkus Best Young-Adult Books 12/01/2014 pg. 67
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2015 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style
BookPage 09/01/2014

About the Author
Gregory Maguire is the author of the incredibly popular books in the Wicked Years series, including Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which inspired the musical. He is also the author of several books for children, including What-the-Dickens, a New York Times bestseller. Gregory Maguire lives outside Boston.