Babayaga
Toby Barlow
Rated: 3.45 of 5 stars
3.45
· 23 ratings · 401 pages · Published: 01 Jan 2013
Will is a young American ad executive in Paris. Except his agency is a front for the CIA. It’s 1959 and the cold war is going strong. But Will doesn’t think he’s a warrior—he’s just a good-hearted Detroit ad guy who can’t seem to figure out Parisian girls.
Zoya is a beautiful young woman wandering les boulevards, sad-eyed, coming off a bad breakup. In fact, she impaled her ex on a spike. Zoya, it turns out, has been a beautiful young woman for hundreds of years; she and her far more traditionally witchy-looking companion, Elga, have been thriving unnoticed in the bloody froth of Europe’s wars.
Inspector Vidot is a hardworking Paris police detective who cherishes quiet nights at home. But when he follows a lead from a grisly murder to the abode of an ugly old woman, he finds himself turned into a flea.
Oliver is a patrician, fun-loving American who has come to Paris to start a literary journal with the help of friends in D.C. who ask a few favors in return. He’s in well over his head, but it’s nothing that a cocktail can’t fix. Right?
Add a few chance encounters, a chorus of some more angry witches, a strung-out jazzman or two, a weaponized LSD program, and a cache of rifles buried in the Bois de Bologne—and that’s a novel! But while Toby Barlow’s Babayaga may start as just a joyful romp through the City of Light, it quickly grows into a daring, moving exploration of love, mortality, and responsibility.
Tagged as:
- fantasy 4
- historical 3
- historical fiction 3
- mystery 3
- paranormal 3
- witches & sorcerers 3
- supernatural 3
- magical realism 2
- magic 2
- horror 2
- urban fantasy 2
- literary fiction 2
- folktales & legends 2
- suspense 2
- action / adventure 2
- crime 1
- political 1
- cold war 1
- funny 1
- satire 1
- dark 1
- Add topics
- format - reader age
- audiobook 2
- book 1
- adult fiction 1
- content warnings
- sexual assault 1