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Published Oct 2016
272 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
From the bestselling author of The Boy Who Drew Monsters and The Stolen Child comes a modern take on the Orpheus and Eurydice Myth - A suspenseful tale of romance and enchantment.
In the Old City of Québec, Kay Harper falls in love with a puppet in the window of the Quatre Mains, a toy shop that is never open. She is spending her summer working as an acrobat with the cirque while her husband, Theo, is translating a biography of the pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge. Late one night, Kay fears someone is following her home. Surprised to see that the lights of the toy shop are on and the door is open, she takes shelter inside.
The next morning Theo wakes up to discover his wife is missing. Under police suspicion and frantic at her disappearance, he obsessively searches the streets of the Old City. Meanwhile, Kay has been transformed into a puppet, and is now a prisoner of the back room of the Quatre Mains, trapped with an odd assemblage of puppets from all over the world who can only come alive between the hours of midnight and dawn. The only way she can return to the human world is if Theo can find her and recognize her in her new form. So begins the dual odyssey of Keith Donohue's The Motion of Puppets: of a husband determined to find his wife, and of a woman trapped in a magical world where her life is not her own.
"An inventive and suspenseful story told from an original perspective, Donahue's novel examines how refusing to embrace the present and struggling to escape unavoidable circumstances can alter one's life forever." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Intricately plotted, absorbing, and suspenseful, this is a moving, modern story set in what feels like a fairy-tale world but is actually terrifyingly realistic. It is a tale of true love and the beauty of the mechanics of motion all wrapped up in one awesomely creep-tastic package. Give this to readers who loved Ellen Datlow's The Doll Collection (2015) as well as fans of Neil Gaiman, Steven Millhauser, or Elizabeth McCracken." - Booklist
"Patterned after the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, this dark tale embodies relationships, memory, choice, and consequences. Donohue's compelling characters and engaging worldbuilding will please the author's fans and readers looking for a well-developed fantasy." - Library Journal
"Devotees of Neil Gaiman and Steven Millhauser will appreciate Donohue's willingness to get weird and to dig into ancient myth for inspiration; others may just be irritated. A standard tale of suspense in a beautifully unusual setting." - Kirkus
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Cade Martin
Keith Donohue's novels include the national bestseller The Stolen Child, Centuries of June, and Angels of Destruction. He also has written reviews for the Washington Post. Donohue has a Ph.D. in English with a specialization in modern Irish literature and wrote the introduction to the Complete Novels of Flann O’Brien. He lives in Maryland near Washington, DC.
Author Interview
Link to Keith Donohue's Website
Name Pronunciation
Keith Donohue: don-a-hew
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