Drawing on the dark fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, this new novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrow is a sweeping, fantastical saga of actions and consequences.All gifts come with a price.Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn't like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather--Merrick, the Dreaded End--to arrive.When he does, he lays out exactly how he's planned Hazel's future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses the young girl with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.But all gifts come with a price.

Hazel also recieves the ability to see the image of a deathshead upon her patient--and is tasked with the duty of ending their suffering, permanently.Hazel grows up, faithfully healing her patients and providing a swift, merciful end to those who the deathshead determines must die. Haunted by the ghosts of those she's killed, Hazel longs to run and, when a boy from a neighboring farm proposes, she accepts and they plan to escape. But when tradgedy strikes, Hazel must make an impossible choice--and accept the unimaginable consquences.