Where the Dark Stands Still

Raised in a village bordering the spirit-wood, Liska Radost was taught that magic is monstrous and that those born with it become monsters in turn. She spends years smothering her own power — until it breaks free with catastrophic results, and she flees into the demon-haunted forest to beg the wood for a wish that will strip it from her for good. Instead she is caught by the Leszy, the forest's ancient warden, and offered a bargain: one year of service in his crumbling, half-alive manor in exchange for the wish she came for. As the year unfolds, Liska is drawn into the Leszy's centuries-old grief and the buried history between the spirit-wood and the village that fears it — and into a bond neither of them expected. Drawing on Slavic mythology and Polish folklore, Where the Dark Stands Still debuted as a New York Times bestseller and was a finalist for the 2024 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fantasy.