And the Trees Stare Back

Books

Nobody who gets lost in the cursed forest at the edge of Vik's remote Estonian Village ever comes back. Until Vik's sister stumbles through the tree line five years after vanishing... without having aged a day. 1989, Soviet Estonia. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe-but in sixteen-year-old Vik's isolated Estonian village, eyes are everywhere. Soldiers threaten those who so much as dream of dissent. The villagers' words are sharp with accusations of witchcraft. And within the cursed forest lurks Soovana, the bog spirit with lantern eyes that lure villagers beyond where anyone can reach them. Five years ago, he took Vik's sister Anna-and Vik has felt cursed herself every day since. So when Anna finally returns, it's a miracle. A miracle... or a lie. Worn down by years of grappling with shame, guilt, and PTSD, Vik has wanted nothing more than to hold her younger sister once again-but as unsettling inconsistencies between the girl who left and the one who's come back reveal themselves, it's clear ...