Absolutely one of my favorite reads of 2022. Thistlefoot is stunning dark whimsy drenched in historical relevance and deep folkloric tradition. It’s a story about memory, of keeping the past alive when others try to erase or redefine it, and a story of acceptance of ourselves in the present day.

I loved both Isaac and Bellatine and felt the balance between their two stories was truly perfect, each having a complete individual arc of growth while also resolving what was between them. The voice of Thistlefoot themselves was a true delight! I was giddy with each chapter from their POV, the voicing was so unique and wonderful. I’ve always loved the use of setting as a character but Thistlefoot is the most extreme and best use of that concept I’ve ever read!

The prose throughout the novel is spectacular. It somehow manages to be gorgeous, haunting, and visceral all at the same time. The plot has a great rhythm to it and I enjoyed the individual scenes from secondary characters along the Longshadow Man’s path. Every character and setting, no matter how shortly used, felt full and alive.

I cannot recommend this book enough. Even though I had an ebook copy, I went and bought a hardcover because I needed to own it for myself. That’s the best endorsement I can give! I will truly treasure it and I’ve already let a friend borrow my copy because they (and you) need to read it. I think any reader would enjoy this book, it really has something for everyone.


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

The Yaga siblings live separately, and haven’t seen each other since older brother Isaac left the family at sixteen, to wander the country by rail, and work as a pickpocket, con artist and busker. He’s aided in his criminal activities by an uncanny ability to mimic the appearances and mannerisms of others. Meanwhile, Bellatine works as a woodworker, lives a circumscribed, carefully planned out life. She has the ability to animate some kinds of materials, and the dead, and she’s less than enthused to meet up with her absent brother after getting word that they’ve been willed something.

That something is an old house on massive chicken legs, that Bellatine calls Thistlefoot. Once they figure out how to get the house moving, Isaac decides that the house will be Bellatine’s, after she and he accumulate profits for a year by putting on puppet shows. This isn’t as crazy an idea as it sounds, as the siblings’ parents are well known and respected puppeteers, and their kids learned the ropes from them.

So Bellatine and Isaac agree, but on the condition that she never has to touch a wooden puppet. They begin their tour, unaware that a malevolent stranger is on their tail, sowing discord, violence and death after him, while he tries to find the ambulatory house.

A trio of musicians also come into the story, having been tracking the scary stranger. Bellatine's accidentally animated stone statue is the last member of this
odd bunch running across the country, trying to keep Thistlefoot away from the stranger.


I loved this book! Packed with beautiful prose, fantastic imagery, and some horrific scenes of a violent history in Russia binding the siblings to the house. The story is filled with all manner of strangeness, from Isaac's ability to physically appear as others, the cat, Hubcap, who trails after Isaac no matter where he ends up, Bellatine's necromancy manifesting as searing heat in her hands, stories of other houses moving from disasters, and more.

I also felt that GennaRose Nethercott successfully wove Baba Yaga with the Jewish experience in Russia into an appealing mix of magic and horror.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my review.

The prologue's haunting prose is all the indicator I needed that I would love this story. There are moments of whimsy that reminded me of Howl's Moving Castle and conjured works of art pulled from Jewish myths. In contrast there are dark moments that reminded me of the holocaust's atrocities, all combining to make a story about a house on chicken legs feel too important to put down. Unfortunately not all the book has the same weight, which will mean most are likely to love half while skimming through the other. For a large part of the book, Issac's pov felt out of balance telling his story next to a magical house's pov. I had such an itch to skip and only read the chapters in the house's POV. Of course there is too much wonder to have done such a disservice to this book. From generational trauma, to the legacy of puppetry, to Sapphic relationships and non binary scientists, to genocide. This book is a work of not just heart, but soul.

Creative and imaginative take on the Baba Yaga folk lord, complete with the walking house on chicken legs, that also has a story to tell. Great fun

I’ve had this one backlisted for awhile - mostly because it just fell to the wayside (I have a lot of those right now actually 😳😳), but any story that deals with Baba Yaga is going to go on my TBR pretty much immediately. I mean…a house on chicken legs?? Yes please.

This book, being titled Thistlefoot and all, is focused on the house rather than its occupants which I found to be incredibly entertaining! There’s of course the story from the new owners as they travel in their house, but the chapters narrated by the house were my absolute favorite! Those were the chapters that had me completely sucked in. I’m not saying the other chapters were bad, they weren’t. They were also fantastic and I found the backstories of the siblings as well as their current adventure to be well written and creative. I really enjoyed it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The sister woodworks and “embers”
The brother lies and “shapeshifts”
The house tells stories of long ago days
And the Longman seeks chaos and the house on chicken legs.

Many years after the siblings, Bellatine and Isaac, part to find their ways in the world, an ancestral heirloom comes into their possession. However, the brother and sister do not realize their inheritance is also being tracked by a “bogey-man” from the old country who instills fear in those who drink from his flask.

I will update this review with a link to the podcast episode once it is updated. Thank you for providing us with this arc!

A fascinating tale of folklore and magical realism, “Thistlefoot” weaves together mystery and eastern European tradition to bring a new villain to the shores of the United States. As an avid reader of all things myth and legend, this book hit a sweet spot for me and it was hard to put down. I wanted to see the brother redeem himself, the sister overcome her fears, and the ancestral house find a new home

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Yaga siblings, Bellatine and Isaac, have been estranged since childhood. Separated by both resentment and wide miles of American highway. But when they learn they are to receive a mysterious inheritance, the siblings are reunited. Only to discover that their bequest isn't land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.

Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas' ancestral home in Russia, but not alone. A sinister figure has tracked it to the American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past.

It took me a while to get started on this ARC but I am so glad I did. This was an incredibly rich debut novel filled with Jewish folklore and family dynamics. The story felt unique and kept me interested from the first few chapters all the way til the last. I am very curious to see what GennaRose Nethercott writes next, because if its of similar quality she has a long career ahead of her.

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott reminds me of the stories I grew up with. I remember being a little kid reading about this kooky old woman named Baba Yaga who lived in a weird house doing strange things. This book takes these childhood stories and turns the book into a fairytale for adults.

Fantasy has been a genre that has not been very welcoming to Jewish people, and I am happy to see an onslaught of authors who are taking their faith and culture and turning it into beautiful stories. This story was beautifully written. The language was descriptive and sounded like your bubbe was telling you a story of how she grew up. The concept was incredibly interesting with the book following Baba Yaga’s great- however many times grandchildren and how her powers have impacted them. The author touched on heavy topics including inter-generational trauma and antisemitism that were expertly woven into the story.

While I though the writing was beautiful, the book felt liked it dragged in some places and was too fast in others. Topics like the Yagas’ powers seemed like the author was going to share some big revelation, but it never got there. The beginning and the ending of the book were so interesting to read, but the middle was almost like its own separate book that was more transitional rather than informative. There were also cultural and religious aspects that I felt could have been explained better, like who the Longshadow Man was. I was able to pick it up pretty quickly because I grew up on these stories, but to those who are unfamiliar it comes off as we never truly find out what he is.

In the end, this book was hard for me to rate. I loved the concept, but it seem long in parts and others were not addressed well. While I may seem to have a lot of criticisms for the book, the author wrote about these heavy topics in an incredibly informative, interesting, and respectful way. You could really feel her love and connection to the topic.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

GennaRose Nethercott’s retelling of the mythos of Baba Yaga is wildly imaginative. The Yaga siblings are each unique in their abilities and personalities, each struggling with secrets, flaws, and trauma from their past. Nethercott infuses her story with wonder and pain in equal measures, using Eastern European mythology to explore generational trauma whilst creating a story that is immersive and a compulsive read. The language is evocative and gorgeous and the characters are compelling and magnetic. 

Bellatine and Isaac are wonderful characters, each full of pain and darkness of their own, struggling to find a way to break through from the past. What I loved was Thistlefoot itself, the house, who has a voice that is layered with meaning and wisdom. The story uses that voice to tell the audience the history and terrible events of the past, memories that live on and haunt us. Using this wildly imaginative retelling of Baba Yaga to create a story of healing of generational trauma is beautiful and brilliant. If you love folklore and fantasy, I suggest reading this evocative, lovely story.

By the cover alone, I assumed this was a middle grade story: It is not.

However, I still enjoyed this. This is a Russian folklore story that I have never heard before, and just loved it. I’m familiar with Baba Yaga in other stories but this one was different. There was three different POVs in this, and my favorite was Thistlefoot’s. I did not like Isaac for most of the story, but then he grew on me and I started to understand him better.

I didn’t see how it all tied together till probably the last third of the story. I had a theory but I do not think I was right. Actually though, I’m curious if I was right and it just wasn’t ever said. There was a character Baba Yaga helped, but before he could be set free he had one last task to finish. I was thinking if maybe that character was tied to the villain of the story.

An absolute joy, I got the same feeling reading this as I did when I first read Neil Gaiman, that sense of a master magician revealing only their first trick. GennaRose's warmth and humor and imagination burst from every page and I could've read this book for ages. Masterful, a brilliant debut, the first of many adventures to come I hope.

Honestly, it was the cover that got me at first, nothing but that cute, crazy off-kilter cover. Look at it before you start to read, and then after finishing partway, somewhere after Chapter 18, look at it again. Closely. You won't see cute. You'll see the terror soaking through the figures, and clearly Ms. Cottage is about to bolt. . .even the faded red font is shaken up.

I took my time with this one - the story comes at a reader from many directions, and needs to. . .for all the POVS have meaning and significance, tidily cottage-nested: from the least to the greatest of particulars. There came a point when continuation was required, and it mattered not what was happening in my real world.

Running with Thistlefoot, for my very life, reading to the very last word, I didn't skip one. It's true. It's true. The story must out, and survive. If only one of us knows. . .come along. . . .run with us. . .

A Sincere Thank You to GennaRose Nethercott, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review. #Thistlefoot #NetGalley

A fairy tale that somehow seems like something from my past. Beautiful characters, beautiful prose. It was, however, long. And that can be good because it's a story that's so gorgeous but it also takes a lot of time because the prose is too nice to speed read.

Bellatine Yaga is a carpenter who hasn’t seen her brother Isaac since he up and left during her childhood. But when they both receive a message about a mysterious inheritance waiting to be picked up, they once again reunite. They discover they now own a house on chicken legs that seems to be somewhat sentient. Isaac, being ever-intent on the next big haul, insists that they take the house on the road for a show. But what they don’t realize is that someone – or something – has followed the house from Russia and is hunting it and those who live inside it.

This was such a lovely and intense read. It started off intriguing simply because it was a modern-day nod the Baba Yaga myth, but as the work went on, its depth grew as it explored healing from multi-generational trauma. I enjoyed the odd magics that were included, and the different way magic was manifested, though I would have loved a bit more of explanation included concerning this. I also loved the explanation of the antagonist – it took the story up a level, as well as the meaningful inclusion of Jewish folklore and history.

I thought there was going to be something semi-important left unexplained, but my question was answered at the end of the work. I also enjoyed how the work was set up, with some alternating chapters told from a surprising POV. The exploration of the different characters’ personal and familial traumas added some serious depth to them. I have no complaints about this stunning work of fantasy, and highly recommend it to everyone!

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for allowing me to read and review this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Nethercott’s writing is rich and lyrical in this tale of the descendants of Baba Yaga and her magical house. This modern retelling of the the Russian fairy tale is dark and full of dread as it follow the Yaga siblings through their inheritance of their twice great grandmother’s house with bird legs through their flight from the Longshadow Man. My quibbles with the book are relatively minor— a house running through town doesn’t seem especially shocking to those who see it. Fans of magical reality and horror will enjoy this journey.

I expected to love this more but I think I realized that this brand of whimsical fantasy isn’t really my thing anymore, it gave me similar vibes to House in The Cerulean Sea which i didn’t love as much as others seemed to. it started out fun and it’s written in an interesting and fast-paced way, however it definitely started to slog in the middle and i think it could’ve been better for me if it was cut a bit from its 450 page length

I can definitely see the appeal of this title. However, after 6 chapters in I had to stop. It just wasn’t the type of fantasy/folklore I enjoy.

'Thistlefoot,' by GennaRose Nethercott begs you to open it - just look at that cover. It scream ominous, foreboding dark fairy tale! The novel does not disappoint its a wild twist on the Jewish folktale of Baba Yaga.

Absolutely beautiful. The author's approach to collective trauma is gentle, but raw and powerful. The folklore and culture is an integral part of the plot and not just an aesthetic, and the popular elements of it are put in an original context, and multilayered. I was positively surprised by the plot and characters, and definitely emotionally invested. Maybe cried a bit.

My missing star is for the pacing. The beginning was a bit stuffy- the action elements and the story-telling elements were very similar in tone and narration, and it took some time until the voices became more distinct and balanced. I loved Thistlefoot parts, but I expected them to be more contrasted with the sibling's parts. I think introducing Winnie a bit earlier would be beneficial. But once it all comes together - amazing

I think I went in with very high expectations in this story and was a little surprised it was different than I thought. The writing was very good and descriptive, but I didn't find myself drawn to reading this at every chance I got. Although this is a modern-day fairytale, the theme was intense and perhaps heavier than I was expecting. The story centers around an ancient chicken-footed house that was owned by Baba Yaga and is gifted to Isaac and Bellatine, estranged siblings who come together after being separated to claim their inheritance. The story centers around the violent history of pogroms, evil, humanity and the importance of memory and being a witness to your ancestors.
The book does stay with you long after you have finished it. I received a complimentary eBook from Netgalley.com in exchange for a review.