Susan Price Ghost Song

Midsummer midnight: the endless white night of the far north. Malyuta, slave and hunter, names his first born son 'Ambrosi' because it means 'Immortal.' Then comes Kuzma, the bear-shaman, who claims the baby as his apprentice. In return for his son, he promises Malyuta riches or even the return of his youth. Malyuta refuses, throughout the long night. The bear-shaman leaves, at last, declaring that keeping the baby will bring Malyuta nothing but misery. Thwarted, Kuzma vents his spite on a family of reindeer herders, cursing them with being 'wolves by darkness.' In the far north, the winter night is six months long. The reindeer people soon long to be released from their curse. Ambrosi grows into a beautiful, bright little boy, joining his father on hunting trips into the wilderness. Into their tent, lost in the vast Arctic darkness, comes the bear-shaman. He summons Ambrosi to be his apprentice. Ambrosi says he will: when his ageing father dies. But the cruel bear-shaman will not wait. If only Malyuta's death prevents Ambrosi becoming his apprentice, then Malyuta will soon die. Malyuta tells the reindeer people that he will free them from their curse if they kill Malyuta. In their wolf-shapes, they set out on the hunt. Can Ambrosi protect his father and escape the bear-shaman? Book Two of the Ghost World sequence, which began with Ghost Drum and continues with Ghost Dance.