Milla knows two things to be true: Demons are real, and fear will keep her safe.Milla’s whole world is her family’s farm. She is never allowed to travel to the village and her only friend is her beloved older brother, Niklas. When a bright-eyed girl named Iris comes to stay, Milla hopes her loneliness might finally be coming to an end. But Iris has a secret she’s forbidden to share: The village is cursed by a demon who possesses girls at random, and the townspeople live in terror of who it will come for next.
Now, it seems, the demon has come for Iris. When Iris is captured and imprisoned with other possessed girls, Milla leaves home to rescue her and break the curse forever. Her only company on the journey is a terrible new secret of her own: Milla is changing, too, and may soon be a demon herself.
Praise for THE COLD IS IN HER BONES
"A dark and enchanting tale about friendship, pain, revenge, and the power of love, The Cold Is in Her Bones is the perfect read for Greek mythology fans and YA readers alike." ―Bustle
“Fiercely written and beautifully feminist, The Cold is in Her Bones reminds us of the power of loyalty and love in the face of ignorance and fear. I loved this tale of dangerous girls with wild hair and tangled hearts.” ―Lisa Maxwell, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Magician
“A fresh, eerily compelling tale of betrayal, revenge, and the ties that bind. When van Arsdale paints a world, you can feel the fog against your skin.” ―Elly Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Frostblood Saga
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peternelle van Arsdale grew up in Newark, New Jersey, where she attended public school through the
eighth grade. After that she attended three high schools in three
different towns in four years, was deeply unpopular, and counted the
seconds until graduation. She majored in English literature at Bryn
Mawr College, and then landed in book publishing, thinking it was a good
way to be paid to do what she liked to do anyway (she was only partly
wrong). She worked her way up from editorial assistant to executive editor of adult fiction and nonfiction, and eventually struck out on her own as an independent editor.Her first young adult novel, The Beast Is an Animal, is being developed by Amazon Studios for a feature film produced by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free and directed by Bert & Bertie. Her essays have been published by LitHub, Hypable.com, and Culturefly, and her short fiction has been published by The Whitefish Review.
Her second novel, The Cold is in Her Bones , will be published in January 2019. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she continues to edit and is at work on her third novel.
PHOTO CREDIT: ELENA SEIBERT
TWITTER: @peternelleva
GOODREADS: https://www.
FACEBOOK: https://www.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.
Hi Peternelle, it's a pleasure to have you here on the blog. I'm excited
to read your gorgeous book and I have a couple of questions about it so
that the readers of the blog can learn more.
So, your story is a Medusa retelling! What made you want to retell
this captivating myth? In what ways is your book similar to the story,
and in what ways is it a little bit different?
The
Medusa myth has inspired me for years, largely because we’re so
unfamiliar with how Medusa became monstrous, and the degree to which she
was victimized and punished for the sins of another. When I started
thinking about that story, it led me to the idea of vengeance and how we
can carry our hurt around with us and then inflict it on others. So I
would say that the Medusa story inspired my novel generally—and
certainly the snakes inspired me directly—but I’ve leapt from it and
gone places that (at least overtly) have little similarity to the myth.
It
seems like Milla and Iris have a really close bond and that friendship
is a key theme of the story. What made you decide to do this? Did any of
your real life experiences in friendships influence how you wrote the
relationship between the two girls?
Yes,
certainly. I have some very close female friends who have gotten me
through difficult times and without whom my life would be
unrecognizable. And I fully believe that those relationships are as
intimate and powerful and life-changing as any romantic tie could be. So
I wanted to write a novel in which the friendship between two women was
the focal point, as opposed to a romance. I wanted the reader not even
to miss—or to notice—that there wasn’t a romance in the traditional
sense because the emotions were so strong and powerful. I hope I
succeeded!
I read that
you were a book editor before becoming a writer and I would love to
know how this has influenced your writing and editing process and if you
felt having a knowledge of the ins-and-outs of publishing was useful in
becoming published yourself.
It’s
certainly affected me as a writer—though I don’t know if it’s helped or
hindered. I edit myself ruthlessly as I go. I’m incapable of writing a
sentence and leaving it alone. I read everything I write repeatedly and
fine-tune. The benefit of that is my drafts tend to be very clean and I
don’t require a lot of line-editing. The downside is that I’m slow. But
it’s the only way I know how to be. I would say that having some
knowledge of publishing is helpful, but it’s now been years since I
worked on the inside of a publisher and everything changes so quickly
that I feel as lost as any newbie at this point. Also, it’s definitely
the case that when it’s your own book you’re just as panic-stricken and
freaked out as any writer who has never seen the inside of a publishing
house
Finally, a completely superficial (and yet important!) question! The cover of The Cold is In Her Bones is so beautiful and haunting. How would you say the cover portrays the book? Are there any hidden details in the cover?
Ah,
yes! I think it’s beautiful too, but I confess to having a bias against
making my women and girls look too perfect and manicured (literally).
So if you look closely at the cover you’ll see that her nails are a
little dirty and ragged—that little bit of imperfection was really
important to me. I also asked that that they insert some wasps, which
are a significant part of the novel.
Giveaway is open Internationally | Must be 13+ to Enter
1 Winner will receive a Set of Book from Peternelle van Arsdale (THE COLD IS IN HER BONES and THE BEAST IS AN ANIMAL).
Love,
It was very interesting! I like it!
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