Synopses & Reviews
2012 Mythopoeic Award Winner 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 Livvys familyvivacious actress Maddie, family historian Rose, and their mother, absent-minded Sylviaare 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.
Review
"Lisa Goldstein is the perfect, born storyteller." Diana Wynne Jones
Review
"Lisa Goldstein's work deserves to be celebrated along with that of Alice Walker and Shirley Jackson." Lucius Shepard, author, Green Eyes and The Golden
Review
"The arrival of a new Goldstein fantasy is a major cause for rejoicing. And The Uncertain Places does not disappoint." www.io9.com
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"Goldstein is in fine form with a darkly compelling modern fairytale." www.JanuaryMagazine.blogspot.com (September 2011)
Review
An exquisitely beautiful, eerily compelling modern fairy tale.”
Library Journal, starred review
Exemplary.... Goldstein is one of fantasys most reliable practitioners, and a new novel from her is always a cause for celebration.”
San Francisco Chronicle
The Uncertain Places continued to surprise me at every page and, as a writer, filled me with raw, disgraceful envy: Boy I wish Id thought of this one....”
Peter S. Beagle, author of A Fine and Private Place and Sleight of Hand
Lisa Goldstein is back and at the top of her game.”
Shelf Awareness
The arrival of a new Goldstein fantasy is a major cause for rejoicing. And The Uncertain Places does not disappoint.”
io9.com
Has it really been nine years since The Alchemists Door, Lisa Goldsteins last book under her own byline? Its been a long wait, but The Uncertain Places is one of those delightful books that are worth the wait. It combines all the things that I like best about Goldsteins work: great, believable characters; a well-defined setting (this time its 1970s Berkeley); and subtle magic that plays by the rules.”
Charles de Lint, Fantasy and Science Fiction
"Its an interesting question that Goldstein poses, and there is no easy answer to be found. What constitutes a happy ever after for one person may bring misery to another. Perhaps the stories of one continent cannot survive transplantation to another without being somehow changed in the process. No matter how carefully hidden away they might be, sooner or later, as the territory is charted, theyre brought into the light of day. Its what happens then that Goldstein has so intriguingly explored in this deeply absorbing novel."
Paper Knife
Goldsteins complex and ingenious plot transplants the forest realm of European folktale, where witches grant wishes with strings attached and youd 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 talesyoull 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
Its fitting that a spider is the symbol of the elf-struck family in this book, because Lisa Goldsteins prose is more than a little like a spiders 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 Tailchasers 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; Goldsteins 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 couldnt stop until I was done.”
Cory Doctorow, author of Content and Context
Goldstein fearlessly rubs the dreamlike logic of fairy tales up against stark realism, and each one makes the other more real.”
BoingBoing.net
Its an engaging look at Northern California in the 70s by way of the Brothers Grimm...a shrewd and satisfying venture down the crooked paths and unpredictable byways of the Otherworld.”
Patricia A. McKillip, author of Wonders of the Invisible World
Its all about family values: ancient legacies, young love, dumb luck, and home cooking. And no one understands better than Lisa Goldstein that terror is a dish best served cold.”
Terry Bisson, author of Greetings and Other Stories and Number Dont Lie
Warning: This book contains graphic scenes of nonconsensual housekeeping.”
The Juggler
Goldstein is in fine form with a darkly compelling modern fairy tale.”
January Magazine
"Lisa Goldstein is the perfect, born storyteller."
Diana Wynne Jones
Synopsis
An ages-old family secret breaches the boundaries between reality and magic in this fresh retelling of a classic fairy tale. When Berkeley student Will Taylor is introduced to the mysterious Feierabend sisters, he quickly falls for enigmatic Livvy, a chemistry major and accomplished chef. But Livvys familyvivacious actress Maddie, family historian Rose, and their mother, absent-minded Sylviaare behaving strangely. The Feierabend women seem to believe that luck is their handmaiden, even though happiness does not necessarily follow. It is soon discovered that generations previous, the Feierabends made a contract with a powerful, otherworldly force, and it is up to Will and his best friend to unravel the riddle of this supernatural bargain in order to save Livvy from her predestined fate.
About the Author
Lisa Goldstein has published nine novels and two short-story collections, including Dark Cities Underground, The Alchemists 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 Asimovs Science Fiction, and in anthologies, including The Norton Book of Science Fiction and The Years Best Fantasy. Goldstein has published two fantasy novels under the name Isabel Glass and is a founding member of the womens speculative fiction co-operative the Brazen Hussies.