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Sign up todayThe River Has Roots
Narrator
Gem Carmella
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
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Length
3 hours 53 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Amal El-Mohtar is surely one of the greatest poetic storytellers of our time. This enchanting fairy tale gets brought to life beautifully by Gem Carmella. Please, please spend an afternoon with it. You will feel richer for it. ”
— Saskia • The Book House
Bookseller recommendation
“This is a perfect little jewel of a book. It reads like a fairy tale I’d somehow missed as a child, but told in prose that weaves and shimmers and feels to always have a meaning just at the edges of my reach. Sapphics stay winning.”
— Becca Title • Meet Cute Romance Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“A short fantasy novel written with beautiful prose, The River has Roots will dazzle you with its infinitely original magic system: near the faerie land of Arcadia, runs the river Liss and its bordering willows. Sisters Esther and Isabel sing them songs full of grammar and bring magic into the lives of the common folk. This is a beautiful love story, with a non-binary character essential to the central plot; and it's also a devastating story of sisterly love.”
— Cécile • Le Tigre
Bookseller recommendation
“A wonderful audio experience like none other! Not only is it beautiful story for fans of fairytales and poetry, but the music and sound effects will have you dreaming of another world.”
— Katie • Lake Forest Book Store
Bookseller recommendation
“The River Has Roots reads like a fairytale classic in its own right, with El-Mohtar crafting a world so magical, romantic, and devastating in such a charmingly small package. Grammar is magic, and sisterhood a source of strength in this land of enchanted willows and faeries. Achingly beautiful in its lyricism, this story left me devastated and yet also comforted, and I loved every moment. Gem Carmella's narration and singing – alongside Amal and her sister Dounya El-Mohtar's performances on the harp, flute, and vocals – made for a truly enchanting read that is impossible to forget.”
— Nia • Black Bond Books
Bookseller recommendation
“The River Has Roots is one of my highest anticipated novellas of 2025. Amal El-Mohtar's solo debut, this story has so much to offer - a strong bond between two sisters, a magic system modelled after the same magic we use in language, and a trip to the Faelands. An enchanting morsel that will transform you. ”
— Rebecca • Fireside Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Listened to the audio on Libro.fm and I am so glad I did! The added music + vocals of the audio narrator just added onto the beauty of the story when usually those additions in an audio can be distracting for me. Once the story got going, though, it was amazing. Beautiful use of prose, and I loved all the way the author turned something as simple as the english language into something so beautiful and delicate as magic. Truly enjoyed this audio.”
— Cheyenne • Gottwals Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Sisters, faeries, an evil villain, and plenty of gentle magic. A beautiful tale for all ages, with gorgeous music and singing in the audio book. The narrator added extra magic. The short story fairy tale bonus was wonderful. Cheers!”
— Millie • Cassiopeia Books
Bookseller recommendation
“'The River Has Roots' is poetic, darkly enchanting, and will carry you away to a land of fairy tales and ballads. A love letter to the bonds of sisterhood and the lengths we go to for the people we adore.”
— Jenny G. • E. Shaver, bookseller
Bookseller recommendation
“The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar is a beautiful, lyrical fairy tale. It packs in a whole lot of darkness and an equal measure of hope in such a short read. I was entranced every minute. If you're an audiobook person, the narrator does such a beautiful job of pacing the reading just right, and getting to hear the songs adds so much. ”
— Anna • Katy Budget Books
Bookseller recommendation
“This audiobook felt like sitting down next to the fire and listening to an ancient fairy tale! It was beautifully narrated with lyrical elements that perfectly captured the subtle romance and whimsy. ”
— Christina • Books on the Bosque
Bookseller recommendation
“This lyrical fantasy novella is a retelling of a 17th-century murder ballad that has such a beautiful atmospheric setting and wonderful characters with a unique magic system built on grammar, about two sisters love that transcends the border between worlds. It’s stunning! I will definitely re-read! ”
— Sandra • Underground Books
The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
This program features music performed by the author and her sister, Dounya El-Mohtar with Amal and Dounya on harp, flute, and vocals; and songs sung by the narrator, Gem Carmella. It also includes the short story "John Hollowback and the Witch," from the author's upcoming collection.
"Half delicious murder ballad, half beguiling love story." —Holly Black • "An absolute must-read." —T. Kingfisher • "Every sentence sings!" —Sarah Beth Durst • "Utterly enchanting." —Fonda Lee • "A story that outlasts itself." —Alix E. Harrow • "Truly exquisite." —Zoraida Córdova • "A beautiful, musical, and loving story." —Emma Törzs
“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
“Musical effects combine with Carmella’s singing at key moments…A stunning performance.”—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor.com.
Amal El-Mohtar is a Hugo Award-winning author of science fiction, fantasy, poetry and criticism, and the co-author of the New York Times bestseller This is How You Lose the Time War, written with Max Gladstone, which has been translated into over ten languages. Her reviews and articles have appeared in the New York Times and on NPR Books. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.
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Audiobook details
Author:
Amal El-Mohtar
Narrator:
Gem Carmella
ISBN:
9781250353351
Length:
3 hours 53 minutes
Language:
English
Publisher:
Macmillan Audio
Publication date:
March 4, 2025
Edition:
Unabridged
Libro.fm rank:
#45 Overall
Genre rank:
#11 in Fantasy
Reviews
Praise for The River Has Roots:
"Half delicious murder ballad, half beguiling love story, Amal El-Mohtar transports us to Faerieland so seamlessly it seems as though she just stepped out of it." —Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"El-Mohtar’s solo debut (after cowriting This Is How You Lose the Time War with Max Gladstone) is a heart-wrenching fairy tale about the bonds of love and family. It’s a murder ballad in book form that will linger long after the final page is turned." —Library Journal, starred review
"El-Mohtar’s ethereal prose paints a clear picture of the unbreakable bond between her worthy heroines." —Publisher's Weekly
“When it comes to storytelling, Amal El-Mohtar is like one of the grammarians of Thistleford, a magician capable of deftly transforming the familiar into the unfamiliar and the numinous into the humane. The River Has Roots is an utterly enchanting tale of love and longing, language and song, and the unbreakable bond of sisterhood.” —Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga
"Gorgeous and glorious! Every sentence sings! Amal El-Mohtar weaves a lovely and poignant fairy tale that will linger in your heart." —Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop
"This book is lyrical, elegant, and above all, kind. I devoured it in one sitting. This story feels like the smell of rain. This is a fairy tale wrapped in brilliant language. An absolute must-read. Amal El-Mohtar is quite simply one of the best writers on the scene in ages." —T. Kingfisher, New York Times bestselling author of A Sorceress Comes To Call
"The River Has Roots is the perfect fable: both bright and brutal, very old and brand new. It's a story that outlasts itself, lingering like a song; I adored it.” —Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House
"Amal El-Mohtar's genius fairytale reflects a truth we can never forget: words carry enormous power. The River Has Roots is truly exquisite." —Zoraida Córdova, USA Today bestselling author of The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
"The River Has Roots is a beautiful, musical, and loving story, perfectly rendered in El-Mohtar's beautiful, musical, and loving prose. This novella has all the dark comforts of an old tale and all the light vigors of a new classic, and will inspire you to raise your voice in song with those you love." —Emma Törzs, author of Ink Blood Sister Scribe
"Amal El-Mohtar has taken a very old ballad and remade it so once again it has a new and splendid shine. The River Has Roots is about the borders that we cross and recross by accident or with purpose and how these passages remake us in the process. It’s about love, and language, and how language is always a kind of sorcery, and El-Mohtar’s writing is a demonstration, too, of this sorcery in action. It left me intoxicated." —Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Amal El-Mohtar knows how to reel us in with beautiful prose and some of the most dazzling writing that we've seen.” —Cosmo
"El-Mohtar delivers a meditation on love—between sisters and between lovers—on language, magic, loyalty, and transformation.... El-Mohtar is a fantastic prose stylist, with an ear for poetry and a very apt sense for rhythm and metaphor." —Locus
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