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Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
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English
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THE UNCERTAIN PLACES

Lisa Goldstein

In this long-awaited new novel from American Book Award winner Lisa Goldstein, an ages-old family secret breaches the boundaries between reality and magic, revealing the places between them.

When Berkeley student Will Taylor is introduced by his best friend, Ben, to the mysterious Feierabend sisters, Will quickly falls for enigmatic Livvy, a chemistry major and accomplished chef. But Livvy's family?vivacious actress Maddie, family historian Rose, and their mother, absent-minded Sylvia?are behaving strangely. The Feierabend women believe that luck is their handmaiden, and so it is, almost as though they are living in a fairy tale.

But the price for such gifts is extremely high. Will and Ben will unravel the riddle of a supernatural bargain, hoping to save Livvy from what appears to be an inescapable fate.

Lisa Goldstein has published nine novels and two short-story collections, including Dark Cities Underground, The Alchemist's Door, and Travellers in Magic. Her novel, The Red Magician, won the American Book Award, and she has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. She has published dozens of short stories in such magazines as Interzone and Asimov's Science Fiction, and in anthologies, including The Norton Book of Science Fiction and The Year's Best Fantasy. Goldstein has published two fantasy novels under the name Isabel Glass and is a founding member of the women's speculative fiction co-operative the Brazen Hussies.
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Published 2011-06-01 by Tachyon Publications

Comments

“Goldstein's complex and ingenious plot transplants the forest realm of European folktale, where witches grant wishes with strings attached and you'd better be careful which frog you kiss, into the sun-drenched hills of Northern California in the 1970s? and beyond.” ?Ursula K. Le Guin “This entrancing book perfectly captures the subconscious logic of fairy tales?you'll find yourself believing it all and wishing you could go to these places yourself, with all their wonders and perils.” ?Tim Powers, author of The Stress of Her Regard and The Bible Repairman and Other Stories “It's fitting that a spider is the symbol of the elf-struck family in this book, because Lisa Goldstein's prose is more than a little like a spider's web: so deceptively simple that you could take it for granted until the angle of light changes and its full beauty is suddenly revealed...a tale as tangling, tricksy, and enchanted as the Fair Folk themselves.” ?Tad Williams, author of Tailchaser's Song “From Lisa Goldstein, one of our most subtle and enduring writers, comes this exquisite interweaving of fairy tale and modern life. The Uncertain Places demonstrates that love and the stuff of legends are sometimes indistinguishable and share the same dark bed.” ?Lucius Shepard “A gripping story that twists with compelling dream logic; Goldstein's fairy-tale family radiate believable unreality, and the faerie realm contained herein evinces the perfect mix of terror and attraction. Start reading this at your peril; once I did, I couldn't stop until I was done.” ?Cory Doctorow, author of Content and Context

Quote Praise

“Exemplary.... Goldstein is one of fantasy's most reliable practitioners, and a new novel from her is always a cause for celebration.”

Review San Francisco Chronicle

“An exquisitely beautiful, eerily compelling modern fairy tale.” (starred review)

Review Library Journal