Description: "Captivating, provocative and poignant - not to be missed." - David Wragg, author of The Black Hawks "This is well worth your time!" - Gavin G Smith, author of The Bastard Legion series "Houston is able to mark the significance of daily events, highlight her characters, and comment on humanity's capacity for othering. This intimate fantasy offers a heartfelt reflection on what it means to be human that is sure to please." - Publishers Weekly "A very personal story you won't be able to stop thinking about long after the tale is told." - Dan Hanks, author of Captain Moxley and the Embers of the Empire "enchanting fairy tale with real-world themes." - Ginger Smith, author of The Rush's Edge " The Second Bell , Gabriela D. Houston's debut novel, is a coming-of-age tale set in a lavishly detailed backdrop drawn from the writer's native Slavic mythology... The second bell of this novel may be an echo of the second heartbeat of the striga, but the first bell that rings out clear and loud throughout tolls a folkloric tale of female solidarity, sacrifice and love. " - Tracy Fahey The Girl in the Fort and New Music For Old Rituals "Prose that scintillates, characters that captivate, and a world that is at once enchanting in its magic, horrifying in its realism, and vice-versa. Houston has gifted us with a folktale that is both mythically resonant and all too human." - Tyler Hayes , author of The Imaginary Corpse "Gabriela's Houston's debut novel The Second Bell is a captivating tale about the depths humans, and others, will go to hate, to love, to hurt or to help as they struggle between love and duty. A moving and complex mother-daughter pair, Miriat and Salka ask the eternal questions of what exactly a parent owes a child and vice versa. A fresh and provocative spin on the Slavic Stiga mythology, The Second Bell is a smart and complex journey into the meaning of family, community, nature and possibility. A gripping read and full of heart." - Soniah Kamal, award-winning author of Unmarriageable

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