Teen readers can also set out into weird new terrain with Christelle Dabos’ A Winter’s Promise (Europa), translated by Hildegarde Serle. Abstruse and sprawling, with hints of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast and Game of Thrones, it follows dowdy, quiet Ophelia, who can intuit the history of objects and travel through mirrors. She leaves her home for the icy city of Citaceleste, where she is to marry against her will. Threats loom on all sides – her future husband’s powerful family, the conflicting factions of the capital, and the illusion-ridden environment of Citaceleste itself – but Ophelia’s unexpected gift for survival is gradually revealed in this strange and compelling book.
