Ink Blood Sister Scribe

Not all books should be opened. In this thrilling fantasy debut, meet the family tasked with guarding a trove of magical but deadly books, and the shadowy organisation that will do anything to get them back.


Joanna Kalotay lives alone in the woods of Vermont, the sole protector of a collection of rare books; books that will allow someone to walk through walls or turn water into wine. Books of magic.

Her estranged older sister Esther moves between countries and jobs, constantly changing, never staying anywhere longer than a year, desperate to avoid the deadly magic that killed her mother. Currently working on a research base in Antarctica, she has found love and perhaps a sort of happiness.

But when she finds spots of blood on the mirrors in the research base, she knows someone is coming for her, and that Joanna and her collection are in danger.

If they are to survive, she and Joanna must unravel the secrets their parents kept hidden from them - secrets that span centuries and continents, and could cost them their lives ...

Review

Follow where this novel leads and you will be lost in a bewitching spell, a book of magic about books of magic, and the people who reel from reading them. Go beyond the magic and you're left with a heartbreaking tale of family where truth blurs with lies, and blood isn't thick enough. A bold, new novel from an extraordinary new voice. ― Marlon James, Sunday Times bestselling author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is so many things at once: an adventure, a puzzle, a twisty thriller, and a tender romance. It's a magical book about the magic of books; I adored it. ― Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Once and Future Witches

A twisty and thrilling fantasy in which both the magic and the characters have real complexity, real shadows. If, like me, you're a fan of Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo, pick up this book at once. ― Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

This edge-of-your-seat fantasy thriller sees two estranged sisters tasked with guarding their family's collection of rare and dangerous magical books. To survive, they have to unravel the secrets their parents kept hidden. ― Press Association Published On: 2023-01-14

The best kind of books do not simply expand our world, they let in light from new ones. Törz's spellbinding Ink Blood Sister Scribe embodies that completely. Chilling and charming in equal parts, Törz's debut is a love letter to stories everywhere. ― Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

About the Author

Emma Törzs is a writer, teacher and occasional translator based in Minneapolis.

Her fiction has been honoured with a NEA Fellowship in prose, a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, and an O. Henry Prize. Her work has been published in journals such as Ploughshares, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons and American Short Fiction. She received her MFA from the University of Montana, Missoula, and is an enthusiastic member of the Clarion West class of 2017.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe is her first novel.