The Bear and the Nightingale

The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden’s debut novel, was released in 2017 by Del Rey Books. It opens the Winternight trilogy and blends historical fantasy with Russian folklore. The story follows Vasya Petrovna, a girl in medieval Russia who can see and talk to mythological creatures, at a time when Orthodox Christianity is working to eliminate belief in such beings. The book was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and Arden was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

The plot begins in the household of Pyotr Vladimirovich, a Russian boyar living in the remote village of Lesnaya Zemlya with his wife, Marina Ivanovna, a boyar's daughter, and their four children: Kolya, Sasha, Olga, and Alyosha. One winter evening, the family listens to their nursemaid, Dunya, tell the fairy tale of Morozko, a frost-demon who tests mortals and rewards the brave. After the children sleep, Marina tells Pyotr she is pregnant but likely will not survive the birth. She is determined, however, because she believes her unborn daughter will inherit her late mother’s spiritual gifts. Marina dies in childbirth, and the baby is named Vasilisa, or Vasya.

Vasya grows into a free-spirited girl drawn to the wilds around her village. Her mother’s foretold gifts emerge: she can see and speak with chyerti—household and nature spirits invisible to most. These spirits offer protection in exchange for offerings, but their existence depends on human belief. One day, Vasya finds an unfamiliar oak tree and, at its base, a one-eyed man who urges her closer. A blue-eyed man on horseback interrupts, ordering the one-eyed man back to sleep because it is still winter. Vasya flees, and her brother Sasha finds her after a search party is organized. Sasha warns their father that Vasya needs a mother, so Pyotr travels to Moscow with Sasha and Kolya to seek help from his late wife’s father, Grand Prince Ivan II of Moscow.

In Moscow, Sasha meets a charismatic monk and begs to join a monastery; Pyotr agrees on condition Sasha stays home one more year. The Grand Prince offers his own daughter, Anna Ivanovna, as Pyotr’s new wife. Anna, like Vasya, sees fantastical creatures but believes they are demons. Her family considers her mad, and the Grand Prince wants her out of public view.