Daughter from the Dark

by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko, Adam Verner (Read by)

Overview

In this extraordinary stand-alone novel, the authors and translator of Vita Nostra—a "dark Harry Potter on steroids with a hefty dose of metaphysics" (award-winning author Aliette de Bodard)—return with a story about creation, music, and companionship filled with their hallmark elements of subtle magic and fantasy.

Late one night, fate brings together DJ Aspirin and ten-year-old Alyona. After he tries to save her from imminent danger, she ends up at his apartment. But in the morning sinister doubts set in. Who is Alyona? A young con artist? A plant for a nefarious blackmailer? Or perhaps a long-lost daughter Aspirin never knew existed? Whoever this mysterious girl is, she now refuses to leave.

A game of cat-and-mouse has begun.

Claiming that she is a musical prodigy, Alyona insists she must play a complicated violin piece to find her brother. Confused and wary, Aspirin knows one thing: he wants her out of his apartment and his life. Yet every attempt to get rid of her is thwarted by an unusual protector: her plush teddy bear that may just transform into a fearsome monster.

Alyona tells Aspirin that if he would just allow her do her work, she’ll leave him—and this world. He can then return to the shallow life he led before her. But as outside forces begin to coalesce, threatening to finally separate them, Aspirin makes a startling discovery about himself and this ethereal, eerie child.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781094113920
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/11/2020
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Adam Verner is a full-time narrator and voice talent with over one hundred titles recorded. He is the recipient of AudioFile Earphones Awards for Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck and The Big It by A. B. Guthrie, Jr. Adam earned his MFA in acting from the Chicago College of the Fine Arts at Roosevelt University.

 

Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, a former actress and a former psychiatrist, are the coauthors of twenty-eight novels and numerous short stories and screenplays. They were born in Ukraine, lived in Russia, and now live in the United States. Their books have been translated into several foreign languages and awarded multiple literary and film prizes, including the 2005 Eurocon award for Best Author. They live in Marina Del Rey, California.

Editorial Reviews

11/18/2019

An unlikely duo is at the heart of this alluring fantasy about the power of music from the Dyachenkos (Vita Nostra). Walking home from the club one night, DJ Aspirin encounters 10-year-old Alyona wandering alone in the dark with nothing but a teddy bear. Aspirin ushers the girl to the safety of his apartment only for Alyona to reveal that she is a visitor from another world searching for her brother, who will only be revealed to her if she masters a grueling composition on his violin. Aspirin doesn’t know what to believe, but he knows he wants Alyona gone so that he can return to his womanizing life as a minor celebrity. Alyona refuses to leave until she’s found her brother. Aspirin begrudgingly pretends to be Alyona’s father, but the longer she stays with him, the more Aspirin’s sense of responsibility for the otherworldly girl grows as dangerous pursuers from her homeland attempt to hunt her down. The change Alyona enacts in her reluctant caregiver is wholly satisfying. Fans of found family tropes will be pleased with this strange, ethereal tale. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"An unlikely duo is at the heart of this alluring fantasy about the power of music from the Dyachenkos […] Fans of found family tropes will be pleased with this strange, ethereal tale." — Publishers Weekly

"Marina and Sergey Dyachenko have a huge skill in knowing how to write weird stories with weird characters in a way that makes them utterly captivating and nearly impossible to stop reading." — Forever Lost in Literature

“This is one that just demands to be read, compelling from the first pages...disturbingly captivating...another excellent read from the Dyachenkos!”  — Fantasy Book Review

“Vita Nostra—a cross between Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian . . . is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.” — Washington Post 

“Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.” — Lev Grossman

From the Publisher

Vita Nostra—a cross between Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian . . . is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.

Washington Post 

This is one that just demands to be read, compelling from the first pages...disturbingly captivating...another excellent read from the Dyachenkos!” 

Fantasy Book Review

"Marina and Sergey Dyachenko have a huge skill in knowing how to write weird stories with weird characters in a way that makes them utterly captivating and nearly impossible to stop reading."

Forever Lost in Literature

Vita Nostra has become a powerful influence on my own writing. It’s a book that has the potential to become a modern classic of its genre, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it get the global audience in English it so richly deserves.

Lev Grossman

Vita Nostra—a cross between Lev Grossman’s The Magicians and Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian . . . is the anti-Harry Potter you didn’t know you wanted.

null Washington Post 

2019-12-23
A playboy learns a life lesson from a supernatural waif in the latest fantasy from a prolific, Ukrainian-born husband-and-wife writing team.

When Alexey Igorevitch Grimalsky—DJ Aspirin to fans of his radio show and disco nights—finds a 10-year-old being menaced by bullies in a dark alley, he thinks he can rescue her, turn her over to her parents or the authorities, and go on his way. But the Dyachenkos (Vita Nostra, 2018, etc.) have other plans for their protagonist. Willful Alonya insists on staying with Aspirin, offering two different stories to account for herself. Is she Aspirin's daughter, the product of a long-forgotten love affair? Or is she an immortal being from another plane who has come to Earth looking for her missing brother? Neither sounds especially plausible to Aspirin, but there's evidence to back up both. A mysterious visitor produces a birth certificate listing Aspirin as Alonya's father; and Alonya's teddy bear comes to life when the little girl is menaced, tearing her attackers to pieces. Alonya's brother, she explains, is an artist, but true art is impossible in their perfect home, so he has come to imperfect Earth, taken on human form, and forgotten his true self. To rescue him she must learn to play a magical tune on enchanted violin strings; when her brother hears it, he will remember himself. This reverse-Orpheus setup is intriguing, but the Dyachenkos offer only glimpses of the mythology behind it, preferring to focus on the much less interesting Aspirin. As taking care of his supernatural "daughter" increasingly interferes with Aspirin's hard-drinking, womanizing routines, the relationship slowly (and not very convincingly) transforms him into a responsible man who's ready for love and parenthood.

The authors bring a refreshing perspective that avoids the genre's clichés, but this is not the best example of their work.

Kirkus Reviews