Follett Content Book Detail: And the Trees Stare Back by Griffis, Gigi

Name: And the Trees Stare Back
Author: Griffis, Gigi
ISBN: [978-0-8234-5912-4,0-8234-5912-8]

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And the Trees Stare Back

Author: Griffis, Gigi

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Follett Number: 2022RH7
Audience: Young Adult
Publisher: Holiday House, 2025
Format: 361 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN-13: 978-0-8234-5912-4
ISBN-10: 0-8234-5912-8
LCCN: 2024-020008
Dewey: -Fic-
Classifications: Fiction

Subjects:

Cloning Fiction

Estonia History 1940-1991 Fiction

Forests and Forestry Fiction

Horror Fiction

Horror Stories

Sisters Fiction

"14 up"--Dust jacket. Set in Soviet-occupied Estonia, sixteen-year-old Vik searches for answers in the cursed forest where her sister Anna disappeared and returned five years later without having aged.

From the publisher:
Many go into the forest. Only one comes back. 1989, Soviet Estonia. In sixteen-year-old Vik's village--and the cursed forest that looms beyond--danger is everywhere. Soldiers threaten those who so much as dream of dissent. The villagers' words are sharp with accusations of witchcraft. And deep in the heart of the wood, a lantern-eyed spirit lies in wait to disappear those who wander too far past the trees. Vik knows because five years ago, she led her little sister Anna over that invisible line--and never saw her again. The only thing Vik has wished for since then is her sister's safe return. So when Anna stumbles back through the tree line on the anniversary of her disappearance, it's a miracle... Or is it a lie? As unsettling inconsistencies between this girl and the one who vanished reveal themselves, Vik starts to doubt whether this Anna is her Anna--or something else entirely. Whoever she is, one thing is clear: she was never meant to escape the trees. And unless Vik can uncover the secrets of the forest, it's going to take her back. Rooted in real history with a speculative twist, the horrors of And The Trees Stare Back are the ones we already know: existing as a marginalized person under a hostile state. Raising powerful questions about whose humanity counts and how to survive if the governing body decides yours doesn't, this politically incisive folk-horror irresistibly explores ever-relevant legacies of activism and solidarity. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

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Audience: Young Adult

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