The US National Book Award Finalist novel from the author of the bestselling Anna and the Swallow Man . From the author of the acclaimed crossover novel, Anna and the Swallow Man , a stand-alone literary fantasy based on Jewish folk lore and traditions this is a story for fans of Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman and The Book Thief. 'As timeless as a fairy tale' - New York Times If the world of the living were a suit of clothes and the world of the dead the bony flesh beneath, then at each elbow there would be a cemetery gate. Here the dead rub up against the living world. Here the living world wears thin. Yehuda Leib and Bluma have seperate, unexpected meetings with The Dark One: Death. Meetings which push them on journeys far from their homes across the Far Country - the world of the dead .