Honeysuckle - by Bar Fridman-Tell (Hardcover)

About the Book

The Bear and the Nightingale meets Weyward in this enchanting, deeply compelling debut about love and power, autonomy and consent.

Book Synopsis

The Bear and the Nightingale meets Weyward in this enchanting, deeply compelling debut about love and power, autonomy and consent.

Once upon a time, on the edge between meadow and forest, there was a lonely child with only his older sister for company. In exchange for being left in peace, his sister made him a playmate-Daye, a girl woven from flowers and words. And for the first time, this boy, Rory, had a friend.

Rory couldn't be happier, until he learns that Daye is a short-lived creature. At the end of each season, she must be woven back together or fall gruesomely apart. And every time Daye falls apart might be her last.

As Rory and Daye grow older and the line between friendship and romance begins to blur, Rory becomes desperate to break this cycle of bloom and decay. But the farther Rory pushes his research and experiments to lengthen Daye's existence, the more Daye begins to wonder just how much control she really has over her own life.

As a loose reimagining of the story of Blodeuwedd from Welsh mythology, Honeysuckle is an entrancing, inventive, and unsettling debut.

Review Quotes

"Fridman-Tell's gorgeous debut fantasy luxuriates on the border between romance and horror . . . Fridman-Tell uses her eerie fairy tale premise to masterfully unpick all of the squirmy ethical implications of the created-lover trope, spinning a story that is as powerful in its human aspects as in its magic. This stuns." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A lush, dreamlike, wholly intoxicating novel with the elegant lyricism of modern fantasy and the deep, dark roots of ancient folklore. Honeysuckle is a fever dream that I won't soon forget." --Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A STUDY IN DROWNING

"A flower-threaded horror crafted from myth and brimming with lush prose, Honeysuckle is an incredibly timely story about the corrupting power of desire and control. Unsettling and stunning in equal measure." --Maddie Martinez, USA Today bestselling author of THE MAIDEN AND HER MONSTER

"Bar Fridman-Tell's debut novel, Honeysuckle, emerges as a hauntingly lyrical, fairytale-like horror. I was absolutely enthralled with Fridman-Tell's lush world building and devastatingly beautiful prose . . . A searing addition to the literary horror genre, Honeysuckle offers a tale in which beauty is inextricably intertwined with rot, and with the unrelenting passage of time, love serves as both a shield and a dagger." --Kalynn Bayron, New York Times bestselling author of CINDERLLA IS DEAD and THIS POISON HEART

"Bar Fridman-Tell has created a rare, beguiling thing. A twisted, wild journey that deftly leads the reader through the forest of hopes and fears, Honeysuckle is a bold, haunting folktale for our times." --Ami McKay, internationally bestselling author of THE WITCHES OF NEW YORK and THE BIRTH HOUSE

"Equal parts fairytale and nightmare, beautiful and terrifying, innocent and disturbed. A novel for anyone who contemplates the rot beneath lovely things . . . A deeply impressive debut." --Danielle Valentine, New York Times bestselling author of THE DEAD HUSBAND COOKBOOK

"Bar Fridman-Tell is a master of the botanical grotesque. This lyrical and captivating debut unsettles and shocks by turns, as a lush and dreamy childhood world gives way to a dark reality." --Charlotte Cross, author of THE BRIDES

"Begins with a playful bargain but quickly descends into something darker, something that blurs the lines between love and ownership, desire and power, bond and bondage. This is magical realism at its absolute best - the fantastical is woven seamlessly into the sumptuous fabric of the world, while what is real is too monstrous and twisted to be anything other than achingly human. Escalating in dread from its first page to its breathless conclusion, this is a novel destined to become a modern gothic classic. A glorious, decadent debut!" --Anuja Varghese, author of CHRYSALIS

About the Author

Bar Fridman-Tell has a BA in art history and an MA in English literature. (She gleefully wrote her thesis about Victorian vampires.) She has worked as a bartender, a bookseller, a translator, and a library assistant. She is currently studying for a master's in library and information sciences at the University of Toronto, hoping to stay in a library for good. She lives in Toronto with her professor husband and two very fluffy cats. Honeysuckle is her debut novel.