Spinning Silver

By: Naomi Novik

Narrated by: Katy Sobey

Will dark magic claim their home?

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s too kind-hearted to collect his debts. They face poverty, until Miryem hardens her own heart and takes up his work in their village. Her success creates rumours she can turn silver into gold, which attract the fairy king of winter himself. He sets her an impossible challenge – and if she fails, she’ll die. Yet if she triumphs, it may mean a fate worse than death. And in her desperate efforts to succeed, Miryem unwittingly spins a web which draws in the unhappy daughter of a lord.

Irina’s father schemes to wed her to the tsar – he will pay any price to achieve this goal. However, the dashing tsar is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of mortals and winter alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and Irina embark on a quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power and love.

As with her standalone novel Uprooted, Naomi Novik has once again been influenced by classic folktales. Taking Rumpelstiltskin as her starting point, Spinning Silver is a rich, multilayered new story which is a joy to read.

©Naomi Novik 2018 (P)2018 Penguin Random House LLC

Critic reviews

Cool and clever and warm and satisfying and dire and wonderful; I loved this book so much (Laini Taylor)

A book as cool and mysterious as a winter’s night, with two marvelous heroines at its heart. Spinning Silver pits the cold of endless winter against the fires of duty, love and sacrifice. I couldn’t put it down (Katherine Arden)

Dauntless women, cruel lords and wayward fairies come together in a beautifully realised world. Brimming over with fairy-tale magic, SPINNING SILVER proves Naomi Novik to be a master fantasist at the top of her game (Zen Cho)

Lovely, intricate and strong. A gorgeous read. The sort of book one reads again and again (Genevieve Cogman)

A 6 star book!

Wow what a find!
Katie Sobey once again provides an utterly outstanding narration.
Naomi Novik has spun another throughly enjoyable tale, with a completely satisfying ending!
Don't hesitate. Like her book Uprooted, Spinning Silver is brilliant!

Unique, beautiful story.

Beautifully told, really unique story. not like anything I've listened to before but I loved it. Felt like a dark edged fairy tale where the characters were deeper than good or bad. Kept me thoroughly interested the whole way.

Beautiful story

I just loved the story. the main characters were strong but had real life in them.
The only problem that I had was that this is a multiple pov's book but the different pov's don't have titles. so You don't always know which character is speaking now and for the main three female characters the narrator doesn't have a different enough narration to distinguish between them. it doesn't however becomes clear.

Engaging fairytale with charming weaknesses

A beautiful dark fairytale that really makes you care about the characters, even the less important ones - they seem a bit more real and less stereotypical than you might expect in a medieval fantasy setting. A few reviews mention the sudden shifts between characters - it's true, the speaker reads the three main roles quite similarly, but I was only confused the first one or two times. You quickly get the hang of it. The context is usually so different, it becomes clear within a sentence. And later on, more characters are added with more distinct voices - a child, an old woman, a man.

I loved the frosty setting, all the references to Eastern European fairytales, and the stories of the three women - especially Miriam with her moneylender family, which gave the author a chance to quite subtly weave in the prosecution of Jews throughout the centuries.

I gave four start because some parts of the story felt a bit too easy for the protagonists - especially Irina turned very quickly from passive daughter of a cunning Duke to politically adept badass pretty unimpressed by nasty demons. On the other hand, I just listened to the whole thing within three days and wasn't bored for a minute, so definitely a recommendation!

On a side note, I listened to Uprooted first. It's nice to see how the author manages to create a similarly magical and interesting setting while keeping the stories different - in Uprooted, everything goes horribly wrong a lot where in Spinning Silver, plans sometimes work out a bit too well. On the other hand, Spinning Silver skips some of the odd teenage erotic romance of Uprooted. And somehow, the weaknesses of both books pass as charming.

Brilliant but for the reading

Although the narrator really reads beautifully, I always felt something was missing. Possibly someone who could have conveyed the culture better through accent/voices would have served the story better. That said, it really is a wonderful story and read very well.

Make This for tv!

At first I thought it a bit ‘wordy’ but it is a true fairytale. Following the logic of the fairytale and giving us 3 strong female leads ready to change the world and give up everything they know.
At the end I shouted out loud that this must be put on some screen in some way. I woke up my boyfriend who got a long lecture on the value of non euro/usa-centered literature with strong female leads and a story where the story twists aren’t out of the blue but in par with the story’s own rules.
I love it and will force everyone I know to listen or read it!

An old fashioned fairy tale. Very Russian

This was excellent, it kept me engaged throughout. I cared about all the main characters, although the mother annoyed me. She was so... "simpering" and weak. I loved that the girls rose to the fore and said "No!".

There was a real "Russianness" to this tale. The Winters were long and hard. The people were hard and pessimistic. Drinking is what men do, and struggle is what women do.

Katy Sobey did a fine job. She brought the characters to life. There was good distinction between them without it being forced. She did not distract from the story.

Excellent Russian Fairytale

This is as usual a great fairytale from Novik but the narrative changes POV often without saying the name of the person speaking or really indicating that anything has changed making it difficult to follow at times. I enjoyed it, but this might be easier to follow in print than audio.

Unique and beautiful

A story that is told with simplicity and creativity. It was a very pleasant read.

I think this could be one of my new favourites!!

Amazing northern European feel, with a wonderful Jewish main character. This story was just beautiful and told in the most charming way. The way it ended way perfect <3 Must read!