by C.N. Vair
First published 2026
Tess Wynne has lived in Burrsville for a hundred years. She should have died there too, but a deal with the devil kept her breathing and rooted to the only home she has ever known. Now she runs a wildlife sanctuary in the Appalachian hills, working old magic to hold the natural world in balance against the slow damage people do to it. Every autumn the devil comes back, dangling more power in front of her, asking for a door into the human world. Every autumn she says no. Then Pastor Zeke Abdee rolls into town. He is new, he is charming, and he is quietly turning the townspeople against Tess one by one. He wants her land. He wants her sanctuary. And he is winning. With her neighbors closing in and her options narrowing, Tess reaches into the darkest corners of her magic, the places she has always avoided. The devil watches all of this and does nothing. He is patient. He knows that a woman with her back against the wall eventually has to choose what kind of creature she is willing to become.
Genres: fantasy, horror, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, dark-fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, haunting, morally-complex, suspenseful, tension-filled
Tropes: antagonistic-newcomer, deal-with-the-devil, moral-compromise, woman-with-her-back-against-the-wall
Setting: Burrsville, Appalachian Hills
360 pages · Hardcover · Berkley
Content warnings: death, violence