Chronicles of Ashen Spring. The Magma of Witches

In a post-apocalyptic New Middle Ages, where eternal cold and twilight reign, the skies are cloaked in ash, and science is deemed heresy, a young inquisitor investigates a case of witchcraft, desperately trying to see reality and truth where everyone else sees a haze and sorcery. Anna Starobinets' new novel is a unique genre construction at the intersection of detective fiction, science fiction, and fantasy that allows readers to glimpse into a frightening dark past that has replaced a bright future. Seventeen centuries have passed since a global nuclear catastrophe that nearly wiped humanity from the face of the Earth. Survivors, having lost all scientific and technological achievements of the old life, have entered a new cycle. The climate has changed, religion has changed, the speed and duration of life have changed, animals have changed. Much has changed, yet human behavior remains constant, and the New Middle Ages painfully resemble the old one. In the village of Clean Hills, an epidemic rages, and the residents are convinced that it is the doing of a witch—the local seamstress. If she is thrown into the volcano, life will immediately improve.