Staff Pick
Haunting and beautiful, Eleanor ushers us into a web of magical realism and family tragedy. Three generations of mother/daughter relationships are beautifully woven into this novel. After losing her twin in a car accident, Eleanor begins traveling to another reality. Recommended By Mary Jo S., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Eleanor and Esmerelda are identical twins
with a secret language all their own, inseparable until a terrible
accident claims Esme’s life. Eleanor’s family is left in tatters: her
mother retreats inward, seeking comfort in bottles; her father
reluctantly abandons ship. Eleanor is forced to grow up more quickly
than a child should, and becomes the target of her mother’s growing
rage.
Years pass, and Eleanor’s painful reality begins to
unravel in strange ways. The first time it happens, she walks through a
school doorway, and finds herself in a cornfield, beneath wide blue
skies. When she stumbles back into her own world, time has flown by
without her. Again and again, against her will, she falls out of her
world and into other, stranger ones, leaving behind empty rooms and
worried loved ones.
One fateful day, Eleanor leaps from a
cliff and is torn from her world altogether. She meets a mysterious
stranger, Mea, who reveals to Eleanor the weight of her family’s loss.
To save her broken parents, and rescue herself, Eleanor must learn how
deep the well of her mother’s grief and her father’s heartbreak truly
goes. Esmerelda’s death was not the only tragic loss in her family’s
fragmented history, and unless Eleanor can master her strange new
abilities, it may not be the last.
Review
“A virtuoso performance… Eleanor might just be the book of the year.” Russell Blake, bestselling author of Jet
Review
“Jason Gurley will be a household name one day.” Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool
Review
“Eleanor is deep — a really poignant, moving story that will surprise
you with how smart it is. The novel turns a traditional tragic narrative
on its head with compelling elements of science fiction and fantasy.
It’s a touching story that sneaks up on you, working on multiple levels
that pay off in a series of emotional uppercuts in the final pages. Read
it and weep.” Daniel H. Wilson, bestselling author of Robopocalypse
About the Author
JASON GURLEY is the author of Greatfall, The Man Who Ended the World, and the fiction collection Deep Breath Hold Tight, among other works. His stories have appeared in the anthologies Loosed Upon the World and Help Fund My Robot Army!!! He was raised in Alaska and Texas, and now lives and writes in Portland, Oregon.