Mythology & Folk Tales
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The Crane Husband
Award-winning author Kelly Barnhill brings her singular talents to The Crane Husband, a raw, powerful story of love, sacrifice, and family.
"If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would nominate Kelly Barnhill. "―Laura Ruby
A Most Anticipated in 2023 Pick for BuzzFeed | The Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters."
A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it's been just the three of them―her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed.
Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children's lives. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.
In this stunning contemporary retelling of "The Crane Wife" by the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, one fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do whatever it takes to protect her family―and change the story.
"If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would nominate Kelly Barnhill. "―Laura Ruby
A Most Anticipated in 2023 Pick for BuzzFeed | The Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Mothers fly away like migrating birds. This is why farmers have daughters."
A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it's been just the three of them―her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed.
Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children's lives. Utterly enchanted and numb to his sharp edges, her mom abandons the world around her to weave the masterpiece the crane demands.
In this stunning contemporary retelling of "The Crane Wife" by the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, one fiercely pragmatic teen forced to grow up faster than was fair will do whatever it takes to protect her family―and change the story.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for The Crane Husband
"If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would nominate Kelly Barnhill. The Crane Husband is a bloody, subversive, and brilliant reimagining of a familiar fairy tale, rendered strange and haunting."―Laura Ruby, two-time National Book Award finalist and author of Bone Gap
"Few books have left me as haunted as Kelly Barnhill's mesmeric The Crane Husband."―Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author
"The incomparable Barnhill delivers this sly, confrontational retelling with masterful ease and crystalline prose, revealing, feather by feather, the very real generational threat that has always burned at the core of this ancient story."―New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente
"A fast-moving, lush story that refuses to end neatly, a story of flighty mothers and the daughters who die a little keeping their families alive. Fans of fairy-tale retellings will eat this one up."―Booklist, starred review
"[A] grim, grown-up fairytale . . . fans of dark, surreal fantasy will be enthralled."―Publishers Weekly
Beyond retelling a folktale, Barnhill (When Women Were Dragons) constructs nuanced characters with conflicting motivations and loyalties . . . [and] arrives at a thought-provoking conclusion."―Library Journal
Praise for When Women Were Dragons
"Ferociously imagined, incandescent with feeling, this book is urgent and necessary and as exhilarating as a ride on dragonback."―Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians Trilogy
"Completely fierce, unmistakably feminist, and subversively funny, When Women Were Dragons brings the heat to misogyny with glorious imagination and talon-sharp prose. Check the skies tonight―you might just see your mother."―Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry
...
"If I had to nominate a worthy successor to Angela Carter, I would nominate Kelly Barnhill. The Crane Husband is a bloody, subversive, and brilliant reimagining of a familiar fairy tale, rendered strange and haunting."―Laura Ruby, two-time National Book Award finalist and author of Bone Gap
"Few books have left me as haunted as Kelly Barnhill's mesmeric The Crane Husband."―Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author
"The incomparable Barnhill delivers this sly, confrontational retelling with masterful ease and crystalline prose, revealing, feather by feather, the very real generational threat that has always burned at the core of this ancient story."―New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente
"A fast-moving, lush story that refuses to end neatly, a story of flighty mothers and the daughters who die a little keeping their families alive. Fans of fairy-tale retellings will eat this one up."―Booklist, starred review
"[A] grim, grown-up fairytale . . . fans of dark, surreal fantasy will be enthralled."―Publishers Weekly
Beyond retelling a folktale, Barnhill (When Women Were Dragons) constructs nuanced characters with conflicting motivations and loyalties . . . [and] arrives at a thought-provoking conclusion."―Library Journal
Praise for When Women Were Dragons
"Ferociously imagined, incandescent with feeling, this book is urgent and necessary and as exhilarating as a ride on dragonback."―Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians Trilogy
"Completely fierce, unmistakably feminist, and subversively funny, When Women Were Dragons brings the heat to misogyny with glorious imagination and talon-sharp prose. Check the skies tonight―you might just see your mother."―Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry
...
Readers Top Reviews
storytellermary
THE CRANE HUSBAND by Kelly Barnhill This is a mesmerizing and unsettling book, a blending of old myths with a dystopian future of no farmers, just machines. At heart it’s the story of a family, of a sister caring for her little brother, trying to save her mother, carrying adult responsibility as best she can, terrified of the giant crane taking over their lives. I admire this determined young woman, impressed by her skills and loyalty and practicality. I was scolding myself for not remembering her name, but other reviews assured me she is unnamed, so I can stop looking. It’s a bold choice, reminding me of Curley’s unnamed wife in OF MICE AND MEN, only not a victim, more an Everywoman hero. The book was compelling enough to keep me from sleep, and the story is staying on my mind after, both signs of a powerful book. This is a mature book, but teens (not children) would likely devour it.
kathleen g
A dark fairy tale that's a reverse of the classic Japanese story The Crane Wife. This novella, readable in a sitting, is the story of a young girl whose mother has brought home a human sized crane which takes over their lives. The unnamed 15 year old and her younger brother Michael find themselves watching their mother disappear, increasing violence, and so on. The writing flows and the narrator is someone you'll feel deeply. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.
