LoveReading Says
Oh my word! I’m rather blown away by this novel, it and the characters within have taken up residence in my heart and soul. I’m writing my review in January and already know that The Book of Love is going to be one of my favourite novels of the year. By the way, on reading the synopsis the title appears to be rather unexpected, but enter the pages and understanding greets you. Three teenagers are resurrected from a place of death and given a task to complete by two magical beings if they want to remain in the land of the living. This sounds as though you will be entering a place of pure fantasy, and yet this is also one of the most real and grounded novels I’ve read. A hugely epic scope is contained inside this seaside town, other worlds lie within reach and strange beings gather. I fell in love with author Kelly Link’s writing when I explored the reinvented fairy stories within White Cat, Black Dog, she has the most extraordinary eloquent pen, and her words carry power. I joyfully fell inside this story and welcomed the emotions it contains. I felt an energy sweep over me as I read and on finishing wanted to immediately re-enter and explore. I’m in awe of the mind it would take to create these deeply rich and evocative imaginings, and so this Liz Pick of the Month also sits as a LoveReading Star Book. The Book of Love throws the known into glorious disarray as it offers a new world of possibilities, what a gorgeous novel this is, and it comes as highly recommended by our team.
Liz Robinson
Find This Book In
| Primary Genre |
Fantasy
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The Book of Love Synopsis
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.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781804548455 |
| Publication date: |
8th February 2024 |
| Author: |
Kelly Link |
| Publisher: |
Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
628 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Fantasy
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Kelly Link Press 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. A book that harrows your soul as it makes you laugh: this modern day The Master and Margarita will remain with you long after you have turned the last lush and visionary page.” -- Cassandra Clare
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
An eldritch Our Town that somehow manages to be both epic and intimate. Link's language is nimble and startling and goes down so easy. You won't realize you're drunk on this story until it's too late and you're careening from the spectacularly weird to the wildly funny to an aching grief almost too familiar to bear. A dizzying dream ride you will never forget. -- Leigh Bardugo
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
Magnificently witty in ideas and narrative, sweeping in scale and execution, THE BOOK OF LOVE is an absolute feast of a story, ushering the reader along a path that is always sublime, often hilarious and frequently surreal, and at every single point absolutely rammed full of heart and truth. I am in love with Mo, Laura, Daniel and Suzanne, I want to take a trip to Lovesend, I want to see My Two Hands Both Knowe You play The Kissing Song at the Cliff Hangar, I want to read Caitlynn Hightower's novels, I want to grab coffee at What Hast Thou Ground? I could have kept reading this story far beyond the last page; I wish I could have lived it for real, just a little. -- Melinda Salisbury
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
About Kelly Link
Kelly Link lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she and her husband, Gavin J. Grant, run Small Beer Press and publish the zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. She once won a free trip around the world by answering the question, 'Why do you want to go around the world?' ('Because you can't go through it.')
More About Kelly Link
