Thistlemarsh

Welcome to Thistlemarsh--a ramshackle estate where an impoverished orphan and a beguiling Faeirie collide in an enchanting novel of love, revenge, and ruin. In the wake of World War I, the world is a decidedly unmagical place for Mouse Dunne. She once dreamed of becoming a Faerie anthropologist, but with one telegram, her world shattered. At the Battle of the Somme, her cousin’s body disappeared into the mud, and her brother was left with debilitating shell shock. It was time, she knew, to put aside childish dreams. When Mouse receives news that her uncle has left her the Faerie-blessed Thistlemarsh Hall, a dilapidated manor in the English countryside, she must leave her brother’s side and return to her childhood home to claim her birthright. But there is a catch in her uncle’s offer: If Mouse does not rehabilitate the crumbling house in one month’s time, she will forfeit her inheritance and any hope of caring for her brother. It quickly becomes clear it’s impossible to repair the manor in the allotted time, until a mysterious Faerie appears with a proposition. He offers to restore Thistlemarsh...for a price. Mouse knows better than to trust a Faerie--especially one so insufferably handsome and arrogant--but she is out of options. There are dark and magical forces at work in the house, and Mouse must confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets of her heart or lose Thistlemarsh, and herself, in the process.

Autorentext

Moorea Corrigan

Klappentext

**An Instant USA Today Bestseller!

"Perfect for reading in the garden…and readers who’ve loved the fairy-adjacent historical romances of Robin McKinley or Mercedes Lackey will find themselves right at home.”—The New York Times

"The perfect escape for A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue fans.... Thistlemarsh is perfect for all genre lovers."*—Parade

Faeries disappeared over one hundred years ago, as suddenly as slipping through a doorway. It was only the very foolish, or the very determined, who held out hope for their return.

Welcome to Thistlemarsh—a ramshackle estate where an impoverished orphan and a beguiling Faerie collide in an enchanting novel of love, revenge, and ruin.

In the wake of The Great War, the world is a decidedly unmagical place for Mouse Dunne. She once dreamed of becoming a Faerie anthropologist, but with one telegram, her world shattered. At the Battle of the Somme, her cousin’s body disappeared into the mud, and her brother was left with debilitating shell shock. It was time, she knew, to put aside childish dreams.

When Mouse receives news that her uncle has left her the Faerie-blessed Thistlemarsh Hall, a dilapidated manor in the English countryside, she must leave her brother’s side and return to her childhood home to claim her birthright. But there is a catch in her uncle’s offer: If Mouse does not rehabilitate the crumbling house in one month’s time, she will forfeit her inheritance and any hope of caring for her brother.

It quickly becomes clear it’s impossible to repair the manor in the allotted time, until a mysterious Faerie appears with a proposition. He offers to restore Thistlemarsh...for a price. Mouse knows better than to trust a Faerie—especially one so insufferably handsome and arrogant—but she is out of options. There are dark and magical forces at work in the house, and Mouse must confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets of her heart or lose Thistlemarsh, and herself, in the process.

Zusammenfassung
***Faeries disappeared over one hundred years ago, as suddenly as slipping through a doorway. It was only the very foolish, or the very determined, who held out hope for their return.

Welcome to Thistlemarsh—a ramshackle estate where an impoverished orphan and a beguiling Faerie collide in an enchanting novel of love, revenge, and ruin.

In the wake of The Great War, the world is a decidedly unmagical place for Mouse Dunne. She once dreamed of becoming a Faerie anthropologist, but with one telegram, her world shattered. At the Battle of the Somme, her cousin’s body disappeared into the mud, and her brother was left with debilitating shell shock. It was time, she knew, to put aside childish dreams.

When Mouse receives news that her uncle has left her the Faerie-blessed Thistlemarsh Hall, a dilapidated manor in the English countryside, she must leave her brother’s side and return to her childhood home to claim her birthright. But there is a catch in her uncle’s offer: If Mouse does not rehabilitate the crumbling house in one month’s time, she will forfeit her inheritance and any hope of caring for her brother.

It quickly becomes clear it’s impossible to repair the manor in the allotted time, until a mysterious Faerie appears with a proposition. He offers to restore Thistlemarsh...for a price. Mouse knows better than to trust a Faerie—especially one so insufferably handsome and arrogant—but she is out of options. There are dark and magical forces at work in the house, and Mouse must confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets of her heart or lose Thistlemarsh, and herself, in the process.

Leseprobe
1

April 1919

The war did not bring the Faeries back to England. As boys languished in the trenches, they still spoke in hushed what-ifs until all hope ran out. The belief in magic was replaced by the reality of mustard gas. It was only the very foolish, or the very determined, who still held on to hope. Despite herself, Mouse was one of those few.

Faeries disappeared over one hundred years before, as suddenly as slipping through a doorway. At the beginning of the war, when the army was still sending horses to fight against tanks, there was talk that if the Faeries did return with their magic, the bloodshed might end. The new sciences allowed for wild speculation as to where the Faeries had gone. Biologists turned to the microscopic world, looking for Faeries at the end of a lens. Spiritualists claimed that the creatures had dematerialized into ectoplasm, walking invisible alongside mortals, like ghosts or spirits.

As Mouse's cousin, Bertie, and her brother, Roger, were summoned to France, she returned to the tales of her childhood. She pored over the tattered pages of her inherited copy of Lady Blakeney's Tales of Faerie: Stories for the Modern Traveler, hunting for any clue on how to bring the Faeries back. Despite her uncle's disapproval, she passed the exam to study Faerie anthropology at university. The study was not just for her, she convinced herself; it was for the war effort. It was patriotic.

Then, with one telegram, her world shattered.

At the Somme, Bertie's body disappeared into the mud, and even months after they found Roger, his teeth chattered at any sound louder than the clink of a teacup in its saucer. When Mouse arrived at the auxiliary hospital in France, he could not remember her. It was time, she knew, to put aside childish things. The book of Faerie tales sank to the bottom of her trunk as she took up her duties as a nurse at her brother's side.

The Faeries did not return to England, but after the war, Mouse did.

The ornate ceiling of the train car made Mouse think of the hospital. Faerie faces smirked down at her, just as they did in her quarters on the Front. In France, the Faerie images were part of the caved-in ceiling of a bombed-out church. She stared back at the ones above her now, both annoyed and relieved that the Fae still had the power to interest her despite the horrors she’d seen over the last few years. Their smiles were as sharp as their teeth, angular and inhuman.

Bundled into her coat, Mouse curled around her tin thermos of tea and kept her elbows tucked in tight …