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Published Feb 2023
304 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor's extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo's dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife's secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage ... or their lives.
Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
"Bestseller Chokshi makes her adult debut with a lush and haunting modern fairy tale about the nature of friendship and love... . Chokshi's prose overflows with metaphor and lavish imagery, adding to the decadent, gothic feel as the mystery of Indigo's past intensifies. The result is equal parts dizzying, dazzling, and foreboding." - Publishers Weekly
"The gothic atmosphere of this fairy-tale romance, mixed with heartbreaking tragedy, creates a story that hovers between fantasy and illusion. It begins with an enchantment and ends with its breaking. In between, a dream becomes a nightmare—until they both wake up. Chokshi's adult debut is recommended for lovers of gothic romance, magical realism, and stories where fairy tales come true, especially when they shouldn't." - Library Journal
"Roshani Chokshi's transfixing first novel for adults is a fairytale-infused story about marriage and the secrets couples keep from each other. That, and an enchanted house off the coast of Washington and hotel fortune." - Today.com
"Reading Chokshi's prose is like sinking deeply into the overstuffed arms of a plush, purple velvet sofa. Her lavish descriptions ... wrap you in sumptuous sensory detail." - New York Times
"Chokshi's tale is as sweet as a piece of fairy fruit, and just as wicked. Every bite is velvet, every swallow is gold, and the taste lingers like a fever dream." -. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
"Gorgeous and ornate, this sensual fairy tale illuminates the corrosive and redemptive power of both love and lies." - Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book of Night
"A fairy tale in the oldest and truest sense: a haunting dream full of blood and love, vicious truths and beautiful lies. It swallowed me whole, and I went willingly." - Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Once and Future Witches
This information about The Last Tale of the Flower Bride was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Roshani Chokshi is the author of commercial and critically acclaimed books for middle grade and young adult readers that draws on world mythology and folklore. Her work has been nominated for the Locus and Nebula awards, and has frequently appeared on Best of The Year lists from Barnes and Noble, Forbes, Buzzfeed and more. Her New York Times bestselling series includes The Star-Touched Queen duology, The Gilded Wolves, and Aru Shah and The End of Time, which was recently optioned for film by Paramount Pictures.
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