The River Has Roots - Outside of a Dog

eBook, 144 pages

English language

Published March 4, 2025 by Tordotcom.

ISBN:: 9781250341099

(1 review)

“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, …

“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.

There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.

But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…

The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.

2 editions

raveller reviewed The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

A satisfying and puzzling dream-like fairytale

5 stars

This book felt like jumping into a raft on fast river knowing you'd be picked up and carried home at the end, but surprised over and over along the way.

It's a quick fairytale and a satisfying story, and while at first I didn't appreciate some of the strangeness of the world-making, by the end it sits right and will stay with me.

The characters are somewhat flat, but in that way it's more of a fable than a novel or even short story, so it works.