The House with Chicken Legs Runs Away

The very many readers, young and not so young, who love The House with Chicken Legs, will be delighted to see Marinka and House return in a magical new adventure. It is everything they could have hoped it would be. The story takes up where the last finished. Marinka is still mourning the loss of Baba Yaga but, with the support of her friends Benjamin and Baba Tatyana, has taken on the responsibility of guiding souls of the dead through The Gate in the House to the stars. But something seems wrong with House and when Marinka tries to fix it, the situation worsens. The Gate grows bigger, soon swallowing up items in the house and then becoming a threat to everything in it and the world beyond. When House responds by running – where to, Marinka has no idea – all she can do is cling on (Benjamin and Jack her beloved jackdaw too) and try to work out what is happening. House does know what it is doing and its headlong race brings Marinka to family she never knew she had, and opportunities for both her and Benjamin to see things about themselves that help them understand the people they are. Fans will know that House is sentient, that it loves Marinka unconditionally, and always has. Now she needs to take care of it and even, finally, allow it to say goodbye. Written with almost poetic simplicity, the story brims with magic but more than that, like all the best folk stories and fairy tales, it conveys a great deal about what it is to be human. Watch out too for references to other Sophie Anderson stories and for new characters, including Valiant, a mortar that can fly, and – irresistible – baby Houses with chicken legs.

Read our Q&A with Sophie Anderson.