The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart

In this black comedy of horrors set during the Dark Ages, two brothers steal and kill to survive in a land infested with supernatural evil.

“Dark, funny, profane, erudite, bawdy, and wickedly original.” —New York Times–bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer

Hegel and Manfried Grossbart may not consider themselves bad men—but death still stalks them through the dark woods of medieval Europe.

The year is 1364, and the brothers Grossbart have embarked on a naïve quest for fortune. Descended from a long line of graverobbers, they are determined to follow their family's footsteps to the fabled crypts of Gyptland. To get there, they will have to brave dangerous and unknown lands and keep company with all manner of desperate travelers—merchants, priests, and scoundrels alike. For theirs is a world both familiar and distant; a world of living saints and livelier demons, of monsters and madmen.

The Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy.