New Release: The Gracekeepers: A Novel by Kirsty Logan

(US/UK Links)

The Gracekeepers: A Novel by Kirsty Logan is released this week in the US. It was released two weeks ago in the UK, see the link at The Gracekeepers (UK Link). No specific fairy tale is retold in it that I know at this time, but it does incorporate unspecified Scottish myths and fairy tales according the description. This is one of the rare instances when I actually prefer the US cover!

Book description:

A lyrical and moving debut in the tradition of Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood, introducing an original and commanding new voice in fiction

As a Gracekeeper, Callanish administers shoreside burials, laying the dead to their final resting place deep in the depths of the ocean. Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining in exchange for sustenance.

In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland ("landlockers") and those who float on the sea ("damplings"), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives--offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future.

Inspired in part by Scottish myths and fairytales, The Gracekeepers tells a modern story of an irreparably changed world: one that harbors the same isolation and sadness, but also joys and marvels of our own age.