The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
A Novel
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4.2 • 46 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
"A fairy tale in the oldest and truest sense: a haunting dream full of blood and love, vicious truths and beautiful lies. It swallowed me whole, and I went willingly." — Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of Starling House
“Decadence laced with horror . . . A delightfully meta fairy tale . . . Magic emanates from every exquisitely crafted sentence.” — Charlie Jane Anders, Washington Post
In the tradition of sumptuous gothic novels like Starling House and The Bloody Chamber comes a dark fairy tale-infused story about a cursed friendship and a marriage steeped in secrets—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was an heiress. In exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when the couple returns to Indigo’s childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend, who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.
Through a tapestry of secrets woven around dangerous shards of truth, Chokshi crafts an atmospheric fever dream of a novel about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
"Chokshi's tale is as sweet as a piece of fairy fruit, and just as wicked. Every bite is velvet, every swallow is gold, and the taste lingers like a fever dream." — V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
"Gorgeous and ornate, this sensual fairy tale illuminates the corrosive and redemptive power of both love and lies." — Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book of Night
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In this haunting fantasy novel, Roshani Chokshi invites us into an enchanted world full of glamour, seduction, and supernatural secrets. The unnamed narrator—a scholar of mythology—has never met a woman like heiress Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. The pair’s romance is tinged with their shared love of fables and folklore, from the night Indigo dances in real glass slippers to their home filled with bronze heads of mythical creatures. The catch? The bridegroom can’t know anything about his new wife’s past. Chokshi’s setup hooked us immediately, and things get even more intriguing when the couple is forced to visit Indigo’s sprawling childhood home, where the dark secrets come spilling out. Ornate and captivating, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is for anyone who loves a bewitching gothic romance or a beautiful fairy tale.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Chokshi (best known for the YA novel The Gilded Wolves) makes her adult debut with a lush and haunting modern fairy tale about the nature of friendship and love. Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, the heiress to a fortune, wants for nothing but love. She finds it in the unnamed narrator, a man who embraces all things mysterious and unexplained. Their marriage is built on sharing fairy stories, playing fantastical games, and maintaining a no questions asked policy about Indigo's past. But when Indigo's dying aunt and onetime guardian forces them to return to the House of Dreams, Indigo's childhood home, secrets bubble to the surface. The ghost of Indigo's childhood best friend clings to the House of Dreams and begs to be acknowledged. Soon fantasy and reality blur, testing the strength of the couple's love, and even threatening their lives. Chokshi's prose overflows with metaphor and lavish imagery, adding to the decadent, gothic feel as the mystery of Indigo's past intensifies. The result is equal parts dizzying, dazzling, and foreboding.
Customer Reviews
Gorgeous
I loved the prose of this book. The story was perfect. And the ending was even better than I had hoped for. This is a perfect rainy day book.
Wow and wow, and a thousand times wow
So good, brought tears to my eyes, and will linger both in my heart and my repeat reading list.
Love this book!!!✨
The ending leaves you shocked and the relationships and morals of the characters are questionable and interesting. I love the way the author wrote this book I couldn’t keep down! Will read again!!