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The Book of Love

A Novel

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
0 of 1 copy available
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR 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.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 18, 2023
      Pulitzer finalist Link (White Cat, Black Dog) makes a dazzling full-length debut that proves her gloriously idiosyncratic style shines just as brightly at scale. A year after high schoolers Laura, Daniel, and Mo died, they’re brought back to life (alongside one other, much older ghost) by their band teacher, Mr. Anabin, the unlikely possessor of powerful magic. He and his counterpart, Bogomil, who held the quartet captive in the dark realm of death, decide to play a game. The winners will stay alive; the losers will die once more. To succeed, the teens must learn magic and remember the murky circumstances of their own deaths, all while navigating fraught relationships with loved ones, especially Laura’s temperamental sister, Susannah. For much of the plot, the protagonists are batted about by supernatural forces far larger than themselves, including Anabin, Bogomil, and the glamorous, enigmatic Mallo Mogge. In less capable hands, the amount of uncertainty both characters and readers must endure before answers are revealed might grow frustrating, but Link makes the slow trickle of information both tense and tantalizing. Striking visuals and nimble characterization are delivered with poetry, wry humor, and a remarkable clarity of detail. (Susannah “was a new bruise. The world was always pressing on her”; Laura “was practically a gothic piñata stuffed with bone shards, dead rabbits, secrets so secret not even she understood them.”) Link dexterously somersaults between tonal registers—from playfully whimsical (love and magic are both explained via a comparison to asparagus) to hair-raising and uncanny (a cat goes from grooming itself to devouring itself whole)—without ever missing a step. This is a masterpiece.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      January LaVoy performs this epic story of three teenagers who are brought back from the dead just long enough to compete in a mysterious game to see who gets to continue to live. In this debut novel by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link, characters Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves back in Lovesend, Massachusetts, one year after they died. Their families have no memory of what happened. LaVoy's narration evokes the dreamlike quality of the novel as two supernatural entities compete against each other, using the teenagers' lives for their own ends. LaVoy captures whimsy and darkness in equal measure, spinning this fairytale-like story into an engrossing audiobook. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      May 31, 2024

      High schoolers Laura, Daniel, and Mo disappeared from the small town of Lovesend, MA, and died under mysterious circumstances. A year later, they find themselves unexpectedly brought back to life in a high school classroom. Their teacher, the unassuming Mr. Anabin, seems to know a lot about their disappearance, and he offers them another chance at life. Under cover of secrecy, they must complete a series of magical tasks; the catch is that not everyone will win, and the consequences are severe. Soon, supernatural figures are drawn to the town, putting everyone in danger. Link's (White Cat, Black Dog) first full-length novel deftly explores friendship, family, death, and romance. With changes in pitch, accents, and tone, January LaVoy does an excellent job voicing the many characters, human and otherwise. However, despite her superb narration, listeners may still struggle to keep track of the many different personalities and may grow weary of the switches from one perspective to another. Even so, Link's writing is beautiful, particularly when spoken aloud. VERDICT An immersive tale of death, love, and magic, perfect for fans of twisty, mysterious fantasy. Recommended for those who enjoyed Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River.--Elyssa Everling

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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