"What everyone want to see," the crow said, "is someone getting eaten. Preferably someone who deserves it."

Out in the middle of nowhere in the Great Plains of the United States, it doesn't matter where you are, really, or even what year it is. All that matters is whether you have enough to eat before the winter sets in.

Whether your family loves you or shuns you, and whether or not you have a way to keep from going mad, those things don't matter so much.

The girl has little else but stories.

But the main problem is that her mother is going mad, mad in a way that wrecks the lives and sanity of everyone around her, and may even warp reality itself. The house creaks and groans and twists, as the corruption consumes everyone—almost everyone—within.

Fortunately, the crows find the girl outside and alone. And they love stories.

The monsters are coming.

At least the little girl has never been very heavy...

Seventeen murderous, ravenous tales told by the crows, to help heal a girl without food, without love, and now without home. Unless her mother comes to reclaim her...