Someone You Can Build a Nest In
core novel 2024 Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Record
| First published | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.86 (25,728 ratings, collected 2026-09-15) |
| Page count | 310 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780756418854 |
Synopsis
Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who lives a quiet, unambitious existence as a formless lump curled inside a ruined manor at the edge of a small mountain town, largely content to be left alone by the humans who fear the old stories about creatures like her. That peace shatters when a party of hunters, intent on killing the monster rumored to haunt the manor, force her to hastily cobble together a body from whatever is at hand, bones, a rusted chain, and a bear trap among them, in order to escape with her life. Badly injured and disoriented after fleeing into the wilderness, she is found and unknowingly nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted, oblivious young woman who has no idea the creature she is caring for is the very monster the hunting party set out to destroy.
Where it sits
- Universe: Someone You Can Build a Nest In
- Series: Someone You Can Build a Nest In core; position 1 of 1 in the series' recorded order
- Author: John Wiswell
Awards (verified)
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2024: won; Confirmed directly via nebulas.sfwa.org's own nominated-work page: "Winner, Best Novel in 2024."
- Locus Award (Best First Novel), 2025: won; the Locus Index to SF Awards' own official successor site was unreachable in this research environment; cross-verified instead via Wikipedia's own dedicated Locus Award for Best First Novel article and an independent dedicated award-tracking compilation (livingcanon.com), both agreeing on the 2025 win. Worth a direct sfadb re-check once that domain is reachable again.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2025: finalist; Confirmed directly via thehugoawards.org's own 2025 Hugo Awards page; did not win (Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky in that category's actual outcome was not itself verified, out of scope for this admission).
Notes
- From the series record (Someone You Can Build a Nest In): Standalone; no sequel found (Wiswell's next two announced/published novels, Wearing the Lion (2025) and The Dragon Has Some Complaints (2026), are unrelated standalone stories, not sequels to this world). Registered as its own standalone universe, following this project's established convention for a genuinely one-off novel (as with Nettle & Bone and Ink Blood Sister Scribe).
Sources
- Wikipedia: Someone You Can Build a Nest In
- Wikipedia: John Wiswell
- Nebula Awards: Someone You Can Build a Nest In (nominated-work page)
- Wikipedia: Locus Award for Best First Novel
- Living Canon: Locus Award Best First Novel winners list
- The Hugo Awards: 2025 Hugo Awards
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