With the Nebula Award–winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.

But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.

Channeling the vibrant heart of myth and fairy tale, Spinning Silver weaves a multilayered, magical tapestry that readers will want to return to again and again.

Book Type:

Fantasy / Fairytale

Review: Spinning Silver

Inspired by the story of Rumpelstiltskin, Naomi Novik, author of UPROOTED, (one of the best books I’ve read this year) weaves another sweeping, entrancing modern-day fairytale with SPINNING SILVER.

We meet Miryem, who despite being the granddaughter of wealthy moneylenders, struggles under the weight of her own family’s poverty. Her father, a moneylender too, cannot seem to collect the debts he is owed, so Miryem takes matters into her own hands to help her family.

With intellect and steeled determination, Miryem collects, accepting goods and services in addition to coin. She brings in peasant girl, Wanda, who is no stranger to poverty and pain herself, and together, their fate begins to turn.

Unfortunately for Miryem, her skill attracts the king of the Staryk—winter fey who raid the town year after year. Forced into a bargain she cannot break, Miryem is pulled into a magical realm, caught in a web far more tangled and dangerous than expected.

Along with Wanda, and the daughter of a duke who is forced to wed a Tsar with many a dark secret, Miryem must figure out a way to break free from the Staryk and from the bargain that threatens to destroy them all.

With spellbinding prose, Novik draws us into this vividly imagined, multilayered fable. Unraveling in multiple points of view, it was sometimes difficult to follow (especially on Audible), but the story itself, rife with intrigue and tension, kept me rapt. The romance is slower to blossom as compared to UPROOTED, but once those threads began to weave together, it made the narrative all the more consuming.

I’ve become obsessed with Novik’s storytelling and I can’t wait to see what story she’ll share with us next.