Erin Morgenstern returns with her second novel, The Starless Sea. One of the most anticipated releases of the year was finally released this month on the 5th November. Morgenstern is the author of The Night Circus, which debuted in 2011 and quickly became a national bestseller due to its whimsical setting and beautiful writing. Erin Morgenstern has enriched both the start and end of the decade with her rich prose and whimsical settings, that are characters of their own within the book.
The Night Circus (2011)
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there when yesterday it was not. It is known as Le Cirque des reves, and it is only open at night.
However, behind the scenes, the circus is used as a stage for a fierce competition between two magicians, Celia and Marco. They both have been trained since childhood to compete, to settle a score between their mentors. Unknown to Celia and Marco, only one of them can be left standing. Despite this, the young magicians turn the competition on its head and fall hopelessly in love, a magical love that makes lights flicker and the room warmer simply with a brush of their hands.
Whether it is true love or not, the show must go on, the game must play out. The fates of everyone involved, from the circus performers to its patrons, hang in the balance.
The Starless Sea (2019)
Are you lost or are you exploring?
The Starless sea follows Zachary Rawlins, who discovers a strange and unusual book that has been hidden in his university’s library, which leads him on a quest that is unlike any other. Entranced by its pages, the book tells the tales of lovelorn prisoners, key collectors, and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a story from his own childhood.
Now determined to solve the puzzle of the book, Zachary follows the clues that are on its cover: a bee, a key, and a sword. They guide him to many places: a masquerade ball; to a dangerous secret club; and through a doorway in an ancient library, hidden in the depths below the surface of the earth. A labyrinth full of stories.
When the labyrinth is under threat, Zachary, with the help of Mirabel, a fierce pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome, barefoot man with shifting alliance, he must search for the end of his story.
You are invited to join Zachary on the starless sea: the home of storytellers, story-lovers, and those who must protect them at all costs.
Erin Morgenstern’s second novel is a love letter to stories and storytelling, and those who love to read them. Just like The Night Circus the book is both haunting and magical, something Morgenstern is perfect at capturing.
