The Book of Love
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- 11,99 €
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- 11,99 €
Publisher Description
'A dizzying dream ride you will never forget' LEIGH BARDUGO
'An astonishing, gorgeous novel' HOLLY BLACK
'An incredible achievement' CASSANDRA CLARE
FROM PULITZER-PRIZE FINALIST KELLY LINK
Supernatural beings and chaos descend on the small seaside town of Lovesend, Massachusetts, in the wake of the unexpected return of three missing teenagers.
Laura, Daniel and Mo disappeared without trace a year ago. They have long been presumed dead. Which they were. But now they are not. And it is up to the resurrected teenagers to discover what happened to them.
Revived by Mr Anabin – the man they knew as their high school music teacher – they are offered a chance to return to the mortal realm. But first they must solve the mystery of their
death and learn to use the magic they now possess. And only two of them may stay.
What they do not realise is their return has upset a delicate balance that has held – just – for centuries.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pulitzer finalist Link (White Cat, Black Dog) makes a dazzling full-length debut that proves her gloriously idiosyncratic style shines just as brightly at scale. A year after high schoolers Laura, Daniel, and Mo died, they're brought back to life (alongside one other, much older ghost) by their band teacher, Mr. Anabin, the unlikely possessor of powerful magic. He and his counterpart, Bogomil, who held the quartet captive in the dark realm of death, decide to play a game. The winners will stay alive; the losers will die once more. To succeed, the teens must learn magic and remember the murky circumstances of their own deaths, all while navigating fraught relationships with loved ones, especially Laura's temperamental sister, Susannah. For much of the plot, the protagonists are batted about by supernatural forces far larger than themselves, including Anabin, Bogomil, and the glamorous, enigmatic Mallo Mogge. In less capable hands, the amount of uncertainty both characters and readers must endure before answers are revealed might grow frustrating, but Link makes the slow trickle of information both tense and tantalizing. Striking visuals and nimble characterization are delivered with poetry, wry humor, and a remarkable clarity of detail. (Susannah "was a new bruise. The world was always pressing on her"; Laura "was practically a gothic piñata stuffed with bone shards, dead rabbits, secrets so secret not even she understood them.") Link dexterously somersaults between tonal registers—from playfully whimsical (love and magic are both explained via a comparison to asparagus) to hair-raising and uncanny (a cat goes from grooming itself to devouring itself whole)—without ever missing a step. This is a masterpiece.