From the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Piranesi comes a seasonal novella about a young woman who can talk to animals and the mysterious events that befall her in the woods.

‘A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They’re the same thing really. ’

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scott is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees – and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst – and the path of her life is changed forever.