A Rush of Wings

In a lush retelling of “The Wild Swans” that’s rooted in Scottish history and folklore, 18-year-old Rowenna Winthrop must hone her untrained witchcraft to break the family curse conjured by a monster masquerading as her deceased mother. Rendered mute while her brothers and new friend Gawen MacArthur live as swans, Rowenna finds uncertain refuge in an abandoned groundskeeper’s cottage belonging to dangerous warlord Torr Pendragon. There, in the guise of a swan caretaker, she secretly weaves shirts out of stinging witchnettle to unbind her brothers’ curse and her own, enduring constant agony from the crafting, honing her magical prowess, and navigating Torr’s attempts to exploit her. But she must work fast to unbind the spell before it becomes irreversible or she’s exposed as a witch and executed. Weymouth (A Treason of Thorns) hits the source material’s traditional beats, enhancing it with evocative prose, a satisfying romance, and an atmospheric setting that weaves in elements of the natural world, for example, through an eerie refrain voiced by the wind. Characters are cued as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Triada US. (Nov.)