The Book of Love - by Kelly Link (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE - FINALIST FOR THE NEBULA AWARD - LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

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 VULTURE AND PUBLISHER WEEKLY'S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR - A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, Time, Town & Country, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, New York Post, Book Riot, Lit Hub

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.

Review Quotes

"[The Book of Love] pushes our understanding of what fantasy can be."--The New York Times, 100 Notable Books of 2024

"No other book made me cry quite so much or love quite so hard."--NPR, Best Books of 2024

"The escapist masterpiece of the year."--Vulture, Best Books of 2024

"A wild, compelling ride, full of fantastical twists and turns."--Town & Country, Best Books of 2024

"A heart-squeezing tale of wonder and life that hugs your brain in the best way."--Book Riot, Best Books of 2024

"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

"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 . . . [The characters'] boldness and exhilaration are infectious. For a minute there, I even thought I could fly."--The Boston Globe

"The wonders of Hollywood special effects feel like garish imitations next to Link's sorcery."--The Washington Post

"[If you] find yourself wishing for a little more magic in your life, this is the novel for you."--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

"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

"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

About the Author

Kelly Link is the author of White Cat, Black Dog; Get in Trouble, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction; Magic for Beginners; Stranger Things Happen; and Pretty Monsters. Her short stories have been published in The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She is a MacArthur "Genius" fellow and has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the co-founder of Small Beer Press and co-edits the occasional zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. She is also the co-owner of Book Moon, an independent bookstore in Easthampton, Massachusetts.