The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins is released this week. I am really excited with this one--I haven't read it yet, don't even have a copy--but it retells a lesser known Grimm tale, The Singing Bone.
The Singing Bone falls into ATU 780 and has several variations. I haven't annotated this on SurLaLune although it has been on my consideration list for years. The tale has been retold by modern authors a few times in short fiction and poetry in the last three decades, but not often--if ever--in novel length.
You can see a list of folklore variations of ATU 780 on D. L. Ashliman's site at The Singing Bone, too.
The book will be part of a duology, The Eurona Duology, so there will be more to come, too from Higgins.
Book description:
Wendy Higgins, the author of the New York Times bestselling Sweet Evil series, reimagines a classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale with The Great Hunt, a dramatic, romance-filled fantasy with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.
When a monstrous beast attacks in Eurona, desperate measures must be taken. The king sends a proclamation to the best and bravest hunters: whoever kills the creature will win the hand of his daughter Princess Aerity as a reward. The princess recognizes her duty but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger—she was meant to marry for love—until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. And while there’s no denying the fiery chemistry between them, Princess Aerity feels that Paxton’s mysteriousness is foreboding, maybe even dangerous.
Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He is determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast—but the princess continues to surprise him, and the secrets he’s buried begin to surface against his wishes.
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