Dark Sister - Softcover

Joyce, Graham

3.7

1,237 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312872542 ISBN 13: 9780312872540

Publisher: Tor Books, 2000

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Maggie and Alex have their problems. their old, drafty house, for one thing. Their stressed-out marriage, for another.

Then one day, uncovering and cleaning the house's original fireplace, they discover a dead blackbird...and an old handwritten diary full of herbal lore.

Maggie takes an interest in the diary. Soon, with the help of her friends Ash, and herbalist,and Old Liz, and old woman with a deep knowledge of ancient ways, Maggie tried to find her way in a world of power and magic. But Maggie's searching has awakened her Dark Sister, a malevolent force that threatens her hold on her family and her sanity.

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Review:

Dark Sister is the third book by British fantasy writer Graham Joyce to be published in the United States--and the author travels further into the realm of pure horror than he did in The Tooth Fairy or Requiem. Maggie, an unfulfilled, restless housewife in England, comes to terms with her nascent, otherworldly power amidst a disheveled and antagonistic domestic life. Her archaeologist-husband Alex is subtly dominating, which makes for an unfulfilling marriage. So, Maggie buries herself in the chaos of her small children, until a chance discovery both liberates her and invokes catastrophe.

During a routine cleaning of a chimney fireplace, she discovers an herbalist's journal; soon after, her life unfurls wildly and runs horribly aground. It seems that the owner of the journal was not just an herb woman, but also a witch with real powers. Inspired by this forgotten woman, Maggie begins to dabble in the arts of Wicca. The gifts it brings her are powerful--a sense of freedom, purpose, even clairvoyance. But every gift has its counterbalance, and Maggie's newfound telepathy allows her to see things she might have wanted to remain hidden. Even more ominously, it seems that in unearthing the journal, Maggie has awakened deep tragedies from an abandoned time, and the evil that now stalks her and her family might be insatiable and unstoppable. --Tamara Hladik

From the Publisher:

Praise for The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce:

"I won't bother saying Graham Joyce deserves to find a wide audience in America; rather, I think the American audience deserves to discover him." --Jonathan Lethem

"One of those near-perfect novels that grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go until the last sentence." --Charles de Lint

"An eerie and quite lovely coming-of-age tale." --The Washington Post

"An unlikely sprite assumes a sinister incarnation in this exceptional supernatural novel." --Publishers Weekly

"Sharp, freshly imagined, and evocative work, by turns wrenching, funny, and disquieting." --Kirkus Reviews

"The Tooth Fairy explores the relationship between a human and a being that may be real or a construct of the subconscious. This is no idealization of childhood; it is a look at the fantasies, the sins, and the rough-and-tumble of growing up." --Booklist

"An unforgettable story set in the strange and foreign land that is your own childhood--that place where splendor and horror, memory and fantasy, collide. You'll be turning the pages, and wishing you could go on doing so long after the book has ended. A magnificent achievement." --Karen Joy Fowler

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