Synopses & Reviews
During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale.
"A wonderful clash of fire and ice — a book you won't want to let go of." —Diana Gabaldon, author of Outlander
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie's death in combat, along with his personal effects — but something doesn't make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something — or someone — else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura's and Freddie's deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging — or better left behind entirely.
Review
“Like the fiddler himself, Arden's (The Winter of the Witch) gripping historical fantasy will draw readers in and keep them engaged.” Library Journal
Review
"A spectacular tour de force by one of my favorite authors, so wonderful and deep and haunting that you might well imagine it required a Faustian bargain of its own — I love this book so much and want everyone to read it!" Naomi Novik
Review
"A marvelous novel, visionary, imaginative, and brilliantly written." Anthony Horowitz
Review
"Darkly beautiful and deeply humane, this is a story of love that reaches across borders and across oceans, and even penetrates the veil of death. Haunting in every sense of the word, The Warm Hands of Ghosts will stir your heart and settle into your bones." Ava Reid
Review
"Absolutely incredible — I had chills all through reading it. I don't think I've seen the horrors of war adequately captured in SFF for a very long time." Shannon Chakraborty
Review
"From the brutal trenches of World War I comes a vivid story of grief and love that feels not only timeless, but timely. This exquisite novel took me over like a haunting, and Arden's eerie, exacting prose followed me long after I closed the cover. It's one of the best historical fantasies I've ever read." Emma Törzs
About the Author
Katherine Arden is the New York Times bestselling author of the Winternight trilogy and the Small Spaces Quartet. In addition to writing, she enjoys aimless travel, growing vegetables, and running wild through the woods with her dog, Moose. She lives in Vermont.