Creatures of Charm and Hunger: 3 (Diabolist's Library) - Softcover

Tanzer, Molly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0358065216 ISBN 13: 9780358065210

Publisher: John Joseph Adams Books Paper, 2020

Synopsis

“A compelling, fun, and thought-provoking story of magical adventure, coming of age, sacrifice, and family, with secrets that add a lingering darkness to the entire tale.”― Booklist

Two young witches, once inseparable, are set at odds by secrets and wildly dangerous magic

In the waning days of World War II, with Allied victory all but certain, desperate Nazi diabolists search for a demonic superweapon to turn the tide. A secluded castle somewhere in the south of Germany serves as a laboratory for experiments conducted upon human prisoners, experiments as vile as they are deadly.

Across the English Channel, tucked into the sleepy Cumbrian countryside, lies the Library, the repository of occult knowledge for the Société des Éclairées, an international organization of diabolists. There, best friends Jane Blackwood and Miriam Cantor, tutored by the Société’s Librarian―and Jane’s mother―Nancy, prepare to undergo the Test that will determine their future as diabolists.

When Miriam learns her missing parents are suspected of betraying the Société to the Nazis, she embarks on a quest to clear their names, a quest involving dangerous diabolic practices that will demand more of her than she can imagine. Meanwhile Jane, struggling with dark obsessions of her own, embraces a forbidden use of the Art that could put everyone she loves in danger.

As their friendship buckles under the stress of too many secrets, Jane and Miriam will come face to face with unexpected truths that change everything they know about the war, the world, and most of all themselves. After all, some choices cannot be unmade--and a sacrifice made with the most noble intention might end up creating a monster.

About this title

About the Author

MOLLY TANZER is the Sydney J. Bounds and Wonderland Book Award-nominated author of Vermilion (an NPR and io9 Best Book of 2015), A Pretty Mouth, the historical crime novel The Pleasure Merchant, and other works. She lives in Longmont, Colorado.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

It was a cold morning in early February, but outside the windows of the old farmhouse, the world was still cloaked in blackest night. Not even the sliver of a moon silvered the frost and snow crusting the yard and the rock-strewn hills beyond. Only the pale starlight showed Miriam Cantor the barn where she must go to feed the geese and the ducks.
 
She hesitated before opening the back door and venturing forth into the profound stillness only found just before the dawn in deep winter. But it was not the silence that made her hesitate, nor the darkness, nor the chill'?''?nor was it fear of what predators might be between her and the barn. At least, not animal ones. Foxes and weasels did not frighten her; it was the threat of who might be out there, not what, that caused sweat to prick at her neck and under her arms even in the raw predawn.
 
Her worry was absurd, she knew it was. There were no Nazis prowling through the frigid gloom. There were no Nazis anywhere nearby, not down the lane in the picturesque village of Hawkshead, not in the houses of their distant neighbors. Here in the north of England, she was safe'and yet every morning, Miriam had to remind herself of that before she could pick her way along the path that wound its way through the hoary remains of last year's victory garden.
 
'Who's the real goose here?' muttered Miriam as she let herself into the barn. The truth was, if Nazis ever did intrude upon their privacy, her 'aunt' Nancy, whose treasured flock impatiently pecked at Miriam's shoes, would know. Mrs. Nancy Blackwood was no mere widow living quietly with her daughter and ward on a farm in England. Nancy Blackwood was a diabolist'a natural scientist who had summoned a demon and worked with it and its essences rather than more traditional chemicals or creatures. Her demon lent her certain unusual abilities in exchange for sharing her experiences and her body.
 
Nancy was also the official Librarian for the Société des Éclairées, the current worldwide organization of diabolists. The Société formally oversaw the education of individuals interested in working with demons'or rather, the powerful, ineffable beings they called demons. That meant Nancy had more methods of protecting herself than the average widow'more than the average diabolist, even'to protect her home and the books within the Library beneath it.
 
It was also true that Miriam, as Nancy's apprentice, was not entirely helpless. Even so, she was only fifteen and had not yet passed her Test.
 
Miriam rubbed at her numb and dripping nose before starting to scoop grain onto the ground. She, like most apprentices, spent a lot of time pondering demons and their abilities, but actually summoning one was something only Master diabolists were allowed to do. As an apprentice, she was limited to minor works of diablerie, such as concocting armamentaria'the diabolical potions, pills, and powders that were the essence of the Art. Before she advanced beyond that, Miriam would need to pass her Test, and then submit the results of her Practical for judgment by the Société before she would be deemed qualified.
 
Even an apprentice diabolist could do much without actually summoning a demon, however. For instance, by using diabolic essences culled from plants and minerals, Miriam had created a potion that let her assess an opponent's weaknesses if she had to strike out with fist or knife, and a pastille that granted her increased strength and speed. Keeping a phial of the former and a small tin of the latter in her pocket helped Miriam stay calm when she needed to venture into the village.
 
The trouble was that the effects of apprentice armamentaria did not last long. Creating them was a process intended to educate, not endure. But once Miriam had summoned her own demon, she, like Nancy, would be a powerful diabolist, capable of ever so much more.
 
As she scattered grain on the ground, Miriam's mind strayed to a different farm, in a different country, where she'd fed different ducks. Her aunt'a real aunt, her father's sister Rivka, whose farm outside of Weimar had been seized by the Nazis'had also kept poultry, and goats too.
 
They'd stopped visiting her long before that, when the laws had made it difficult for their family to do much of anything without being harassed. The last time they all went out as a family, a boy had thrown a stone. A policeman had laughed when it hit Miriam's father in the back. That was when Miriam's mother and father had written to Nancy to ask if their daughter could live with her, in England .?.?.
 
No'she could not think on that now.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Joseph Adams Books Paper
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0358065216
• ISBN 13: 9780358065210
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320