Blurb from a JoCoNaut:

2023 Best Novel Hugo. Excerpt from a libraryThing reviewer who is much more eloquent than me.

Herenya 1,195 reviews Marra, the youngest princess, was sent off to a covenant rather than married off to a prince. When she discovers what her sister has to endure at the hands of her husband, she decides to stop him. And that quest starts with tasks set by the dust-wife -- to weave a cloak of nettles and build a dog of bone.

This is Vernon doing what she does best, with the juxtaposition of fairytale-ish events with down-to-earth personalities, and of dark horrors with kind characters, positive relationships and lively animal companions. She's very perceptive about the different experiences and concerns of women. I liked that Marra is a grown woman of thirty, not a mere teenager.

“Fairy tales,” said the dust-wife heavily, “are very hard on bystanders. Particularly old women. I’d rather not dance myself to death in iron shoes, if it’s all the same to you.”

Content warnings include domestic abuse, miscarriage