The first novel from Pulitzer-Prize finalist and Macarthur 'Genius Grant' fellow Kelly Link, The Book of Love sees supernatural beings and chaos descend on the small seaside town of Lovesend, Massachusetts in the wake of the unexpected return of three missing teenagers.
'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.
"Link has made a modern myth, grand enough to capture all the agony and absurdity and radiance of love itself. This is one of those books that cuts your life in two: before you read it, and after." - Alix E. Harrow
"Link wraps a terrifying core of rusty razor blades in deceptive layers of charming, daffy quirkiness. It's a confection like no other: one you won't forget – or regret." - Cory Doctorow
"A wholly absorbing journey that boasts the hallmarks of Link's shorter fiction while building out a robust cast of characters in the vividly rendered town of Lovesend. At its heart, Link's debut is exactly what the title suggests, a moving and deft exploration of the many ways 'love goes on even when we cannot'" - BookList, starred review
"A playful, ambitious story of magic erupting in the everyday, so vividly drawn" - The Bookseller
"Link has a genius for combining the mundane with the uncanny, diving into the dark currents where dreams grow and bringing up magic-encrusted jetsam, pearlescent ideas that coil and shock" - Kirkus
"Lovers of magical coming-of-age stories will find the protagonists’ journeys compelling, while anyone who believes that love is the greatest magic of all will find the redemptive power of love (of all types) imbued in every single page" - Library Journal
"Link’s prose is unmatched: she makes the world seem both more surreal, and more gorgeous at every turn. There is nobody writing like her: Link is truly singular" - Sarah Maria Griffin, author of Other Words for Smoke
"In The Book of Love, Link’s debut novel, she revels in upholding and upturning the genre’s conventions... the writing sparkles with wit and colour, and there is much camp weirdness and shimmering grandeur" - The Spectator