The Book of Love

NATIONAL BESTSELLER 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, TodayONE OF VULTURE AND PUBLISHER WEEKLYS 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, Harpers 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 lovefrom friendship to romance to abiding family tieswith 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 disappearanceand 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 theyve 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 Lauras 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 Links incomparable Lovesend, where youll encounter love and loss, laughter and dread, magic and karaoke, and some really good pizza.