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Sign up todayThe Book of Love
A Novel
Narrator
January LaVoy
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Length
23 hours 30 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Laura, Daniel and Mo, three high school students from Lovesend, Massachusetts, go missing one night and leaving their family and friends confused and grieving. A year later they reappear in the classroom of their unremarkable music teacher Mr. Anabin, only to learn that they have been dead and now have a second chance at life. The catch? Only two may stay, and those who win their place in this life must do so by developing magic powers and finding a sacred object. If this wasn't challenging enough, several other beings have made their way into Lovesend all with their own dark agendas and terrifying powers. Kelly Link's writing is funny, deadly sharp and powerful. Her characters hum with humanity and life (even those who are not so human). Filled with love, music and mystery, this is a great read for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and Plain Bad Heroines. I am loving this book!”
— Samantha • A Great Good Place for Books
Bookseller recommendation
“What can’t Kelly Link do? Seriously, this novel blew me away. It is brimming with magic and surrealism and weirdness (in true Kelly Link fashion), as well as the most heartfelt warmth and intimacy and sincerity. 10s across the board.”
— Amali Gordon-Buxbaum • Books Are Magic
Bookseller recommendation
“This book swept me off my feet. Everything about it was expertly woven and paced. I loved these deeply flawed and beautiful teens who found themselves back from the dead and puzzling their way through their new circumstances. January LaVoy's narration had me on the EDGE of my seat 24/7 and I finished this behemoth in a blink of the eye. ”
— Kimi • The Silver Unicorn Bookstore
Summary
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In the acclaimed first novel from short story virtuoso and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, three teenagers become pawns in a supernatural power struggle.
“A dreamlike, profoundly beautiful novel [that] pushes our understanding of what a fantasy novel can be.”—Amal El-Mohtar, The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
“Imagine a ring of David Mitchell and Stephen King books dancing around a fire until something new, brave, and wonderful rose up from the flames.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, Today
ONE OF PUBLISHER WEEKLY’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
The Book of Love showcases Kelly Link at the height of her powers, channeling potent magic and attuned to all varieties of love—from friendship to romance to abiding family ties—with her trademark compassion, wit, and literary derring-do. Readers will find joy (and a little terror) and an affirmation that love goes on, even when we cannot.
Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.
With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.
But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.
Welcome to Kelly Link’s incomparable Lovesend, where you’ll encounter love and loss, laughter and dread, magic and karaoke, and some really good pizza.
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Reviews
“The Book of Love is an incredible achievement—a novel whose people and places feel so true to life that the magic that shimmers through the pages like grown-up fairy dust seems not just real but unquestionable.”—Cassandra Clare, author of Sword Catcher“By turns playful and harrowing, surreal and sagacious, replete with gods and other monsters, The Book of Love is an astonishing, gorgeous novel written with Link’s unique wit, warmth and ability to get under your skin.”—Holly Black, author of Book of Night
“A supernatural story about love in all its guises bewitches. . . . The places of this novel are both glitteringly strange and so fully realized that one feels one might visit them tomorrow.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“Sublime . . . In some ways The Book of Love feels Dickensian, but it also shares DNA with Harry Potter and TV series like Stranger Things. . . . [The characters’] boldness and exhilaration are infectious. For a minute there, I even thought I could fly.”—The Boston Globe
“[Link's]. . . . writing sparkles with wit and colour, and there is much camp weirdness and shimmering grandeur.”—The Spectator (UK)
“The wonders of Hollywood special effects feel like garish imitations next to Link’s sorcery.”—The Washington Post
“. . . if you are, possibly, a cynic looking for something to give you some renewed faith in love/friendship/literature in this month of cold and candy hearts, and/or find yourself wishing for a little more magic in your life, this is the novel for you. It’s even red.”—Lit Hub
“A dizzying dream ride you will never forget.”—Leigh Bardugo, author of Ninth House
“Haunting, immersive, and at times surpassingly beautiful.”—Locus
“This is one of those books that cuts your life in two: before you read it, and after.”—Alix E. Harrow, author of Starling House
“A giant, glorious novel about friendship, love, queerness, rock-and-roll, stardom, parenthood, loyalty, lust and duty.”—Cory Doctorow, author of The Lost Cause
“The Book of Love is a luxurious, bewitching novel of exceptional beauty and power.”—Carmen Maria Machado, author of In the Dream House
“Pure enchantment—a tale of love, death, magic and teenagers being teenagers, rich with fairy strangeness and told in sentences like jewels strung on a chain.”—Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister
“Pulitzer finalist Link makes a dazzling full-length debut that proves her gloriously idiosyncratic style shines just as brightly at scale. . . . This is a masterpiece.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A moving and deft exploration of the many ways ‘love goes on even when we cannot.’”—Booklist (starred review)
“An absolute feast of a story, ushering the reader along a path that is always sublime, often hilarious, and at every single point rammed full of heart and truth.”—Melinda Salisbury, author of Her Dark Wings Expand reviews
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