Nettle & Bone

Nettle & Bone is a fantasy novel by the American writer Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher, published in 2022. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2023 and was a finalist for the Nebula and the Locus awards, and it has been described as a dark fairy tale.

Marra is the youngest of three princesses. Her eldest sister, Damia, married Prince Vorling and died a few months later; the middle sister, Kania, was married to him in her place, and Marra was sent away to a convent. Years afterwards, at a funeral, Kania tells her what the marriage has become.

Marra leaves the convent to look for help. A dust-wife, a practitioner of grave magic, sets her three tasks that cannot be done and promises to help kill the prince if she completes them. The group that forms around her includes a former knight rescued from a goblin market, a fairy godmother who is better at curses than blessings, and a chicken with a demon in it.