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Book Summary and Reviews of A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig

A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig

A Land So Wide

A Novel

by Erin A. Craig

  • Publishes:
  • Sep 9, 2025, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Child, comes an irresistible blend of dark fairytale and romantic fantasy set in the beautiful but brutal Canadian wilderness.

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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"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

This information about A Land So Wide was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

#1 New York Times best-selling author Erin A. Craig has always loved telling stories. After getting her B.F.A. from the University of Michigan, in Theatre Design and Production, she stage managed tragic operas with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky. An avid reader, decent quilter, rabid basketball fan, and collector of typewriters, brass figurines, and sparkly shoes, Erin makes her home in West Michigan with her husband and daughter.

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