A Thousand Steps into Night

Longlisted for the National Book Award

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a fantasy perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli. When a girl who’s never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way she is forced to confront her true power within. 

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and men exist side by side, Miuko is simply an ordinary girl. But when Miuko is cursed and begins to turn into a blue demon whose touch is deadly, she must set off on an expedition in the hope of reversing the transformation. Aided by a thieving magpie and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko’s journey through the mortal and spiritual worlds is littered with burning temples, spirits, and towns being swallowed by the earth. But power is seductive for a girl who was once average, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul from shadows is worth blending into them once again. 

Traci Chee is the New York Times bestselling author of The Reader Trilogy; National Book Award finalist and Printz honoree, We Are Not Free; and the YA standalone fantasies Kindling and National Book Award longlist title, A Thousand Steps into Night. An all-around word geek, she loves book arts and art books, poetry and paper crafts, though she also dabbles at egg painting, gardening, and hosting game nights for family and friends. She lives in California with her fast dog.