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A Novel
by Joan Tierney
A queer and cli-fi reimagining of a Portuguese folktale about a young trans woman who must save her elder sisters from the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and the King of Misery.
Elixane lives in a village ravaged by waves, storms, and the encroaching forest. When she was too young to remember, her elder sisters each picked a flower and were whisked away: Borboleta to marry the King of the Air, Adelina to marry the King of the Sea, and her favorite sister Dores to marry the King of Misery, who promised: No one will ever love you as I will.
So when Elixane receives a mysterious message from a toad, she sets out to rescue Dores from the Kingdom of Misery. She is aided by the jester-like Marquês of Luck and his sister Jinx, the contrary and beautiful Marquesa of Misfortune. On the way, she'll have to reunite with her sisters and their magical husbands, break several unbreakable curses―and, perhaps, find a magical love of her own.
"If the repetitive nature of the narrative device leaves little space for suspense, Tierney's poetic prose consistently elevates the tale. The novel particularly shines when exploring sisterhood, grief, trauma, and the process of stepping confidently into one's power. A beautifully written reimagined folktale." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Misery's Wife 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.
Joan Tierney is the author of the Publishers Weekly-starred novella The Killing Grounds. Misery's Wife is her debut novel.
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