A Land So Wide: A Novel

by Erin A. Craig Narrated by Cecily Bednar Schmidt

Overview

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Child comes an irresistible blend of dark fairytale and romantic fantasy. ¿ The town of Mistaken has a secret...and it's up to one woman to uncover the truth, confront her past, and save the man she loves.

"Wonderous and haunting. Erin A. Craig strikes gold again." -Marisha Pessl, New York Times bestselling author of Night Film and Darkly

"This book is an undeniable triumph. Beautiful and dark and unforgettable.”-Shea Ernshaw, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A History of Wild Places

Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious lumber merchant, the village is blessed with rich natural resources that have made its people prosperous-but at a cost. The same woods that have lined the townsfolks' pockets harbor dangerous beasts: wolves, bears, and the Bright-Eyeds-monsters beyond description who have rained utter destruction down on nearby settlements. But Mistaken's founders made a deal with the mysterious Benevolence: the Warding Stones that surround the town will keep the Bright-Eyeds out-and the town's citizens in. Anyone who spends a night within Mistaken's borders belongs to it forever.

Greer, a mapmaker and eccentric dreamer, has always ached to explore the world outside, even though she knows she and her longtime love, Ellis Beaufort, will never see it. Until, on the day she and Ellis are meant to finally begin their lives together, Greer watches in horror as her beloved disappears beyond the Warding Stones, pursued by a monstrous creature. Determined to rescue Ellis, she figures out a way to defy Mistaken's curse and begins a trek through the cold and pitiless wilderness. But there, Greer is hunted, not only by the ruthless Bright-Eyeds but by the secret truths behind Mistaken's founding and her own origins.

Playfully drawing from Scottish folklore, Erin A. Craig's adult debut is both a deeply atmospheric and profoundly romantic exploration of freedom versus security: a stunning celebration of one woman's relentless bravery on a quest to reclaim her lost love-and seize her own future.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Wonderous and haunting. A mystery told by firelight and shadow with all of the heart, danger, and destiny of our most timeless folktales. Erin A. Craig strikes gold again."
—Marisha Pessl, New York Times bestselling author of Night Film and Darkly

“With all the wit of a classic fable and the dreaminess of a modern romance, A Land So Wide is like the woods themselves: lovely, dark, and deep. I was beguiled by every word.”
—Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

“With a setting both lushly expansive and desperately claustrophobic, Craig invents a new mythology of terror and determination. I couldn’t get enough of this romantic, tense, and thrilling tale.”
—Kiersten White, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide

“No one does it like Erin Craig. A Land So Wide is a dark, atmospheric love story that takes you by the hand and leads you straight into a snowy folktale.”
—Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of The Hemlock Queen

“The Canadian wilderness has never felt so wild and untamed. Erin Craig has masterfully woven the stark beauty of nature with the eerie pulse of the unnatural, where the land itself seems to come alive. A Land So Wide is a breathtaking exploration into humanity's unyielding drive to conquer, and the cost of ignoring what lies beyond the boundaries of the known world. This book is an undeniable triumph. Beautiful and dark and unforgettable.”
—Shea Ernshaw, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A History of Wild Places

"A Land So Wide is a spellbinding journey through a landscape as beautiful as it is treacherous. With lush, enchanting storytelling, Craig crafts a world so vivid you can taste the air and hear the whisper of the trees. I was utterly enthralled from the first page to the last."
—Elizabeth Helen, bestselling author of Bonded by Thorns

“An achingly gorgeous tale of love lost and love found, of magic and of longings unforeseen. A Land So Wide is a dazzling, sumptuous story that lingers in the imagination well after the last page.”
—Christina Henry, author of Alice and The Place Where They Buried Your Heart

Kirkus Reviews

2025-06-05
A gothic historical romantasy that takes place in an imaginary North American coastal region and features frontier-esque hardships, feminist concepts, and truly frightening supernatural creatures.

When you grow up in a town named Mistaken, things don’t always go as planned. Greer Mackenzie is 27 and more than ready for this year’s Hunt, a kind of 18th-century Sadie Hawkins Day in which Mistaken’s unmarried people find future mates. Greer and her longtime beau, Ellis Beaufort, heir to the local bakery, can’t wait for their marriage. Unfortunately, Greer’s father, Hessel Mackenzie, owner of the lucrative lumber mill, has other plans—and, unbeknownst to Greer, so does Ellis. There’s hardscrabble survival aplenty, whether it’s Greer’s friend Louise catching rabbits for her underserved family’s stew or Greer heading off beyond the town’s Warding Stones with a canvas sack containing deer jerky, hand-knit socks, and other provisions to keep her safe in the land of the Bright-Eyed and the Gathered. The Bright-Eyed turn out to be shape-shifting, blood-sucking beasts; the Gathered an isolated group of zombified survivors. No one seems to fully understand this new world, even if the Bright-Eyed have managed to instill fear in both Indigenous people and European settlers. Toward the end, Greer learns more about the origin of the Bright-Eyed. She’s told they’re ruled by a queen who was "intrigued by the idea of a new world, a new continent to see, to explore, to feast upon. She had an insatiable hunger formore." Unfortunately, Greer’s story and the background information on Mistaken take so long to tell that once the violence and battles for the souls of humans versus demons begin, it’s difficult to remember that at one point the novel centered on the cruel inequality women in early colonial societies faced. Instead, the action turns to teeth, talons, and turncoats, with an intriguing but strangely unsatisfying strand about how evil came to the shores of a land so bounteous and yet unexplored.

Fascinating worldbuilding with a strong and surprising feminist twist.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940194749911
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/02/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

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