The Glittering World: A Book Club Recommendation!

A SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD FINALIST A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST AS A BOY, HE VANISHED INTO THE WOODS. SOMETHING ELSE CAME BACK. In the tradition of Neil Gaiman (The Ocean at the End of the Lane), Scott Smith (The Ruins), and Jason Mott (The Returned), award-winning playwright Robert Levy spins a dark tale of alienation and belonging, the familiar and the surreal, family secrets and the search for truth in his debut supernatural thriller.When up-and-coming chef Michael "Blue" Whitley returns with three friends to the remote Canadian community of his birth, it appears to be the perfect getaway from New York. He soon discovers, however, that everything he thought he knew about himself is a carefully orchestrated lie. Though he had no recollection of the event, as a young boy, Blue and another child went missing for weeks in the idyllic, mysterious woods of Starling Cove. Soon thereafter, his mother suddenly fled with him to America, their homeland left behind. But then Blue begins to remember. And once the shocking truth starts bleeding back into his life, his closest friends--Elisa, his former partner in crime; her stalwart husband, Jason; and Gabe, Blue's young and admiring coworker--must unravel the secrets of Starling Cove and the artists' colony it once harbored. All four will face their troubled pasts, their most private demons, and a mysterious race of beings that inhabits the land, spoken of by the locals only as the Other Kind...

From School Library Journal

A simple road trip to the island of Cape Breton, Canada, turns into much more when Blue and his three friends travel there so he can sell his deceased grandmother's house. The area around Starling Cove is magical—the greens are greener, artists churn out more artwork, and the people are happier. Blue doesn't remember much about his childhood at the artists' colony, which burned down, but when he and his friends visit its charred remains, memories return in dreams and flashbacks. And then Blue and his friend Elisa disappear. The locals drop hints about The Other Kind, and Elisa's husband and Blue's friend must investigate to find the two missing friends. Magical realism and a dark fey world collide in this grown-up tale that readers of Holly Black's Tithe (S. & S., 2002) will enjoy. It's told in four sections, each from the point of view of one of the four main characters. Dark fairies live underground in Starling Cove, and their interactions with humans are more like horrific alien encounters than those with beautiful fairies in traditional tales. The main characters are adults who behave like confused adolescents—partying and running away from reality—and many teens will find them relatable. Give to readers who grew up on Julie Kagawa's "The Iron Fey" (Harlequin Teen) series and are looking for something more mature. VERDICT Recommended for fans of dark fairy tales.—Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL

[it] deserves a place beside that of Peter Straub, Graham Joyce, and Mark. Z. Danielewski." Author: Elizabeth Hand, author of Generation Loss

"Robert Levy's transcendent first novel balances on the knife-edge between psychological horror and mainstream thriller

About the Author

Robert Levy is a Harvard graduate subsequently trained as a forensic psychologist. He is also an award-winning playwright, having multiple shows developed Off Broadway. His work has been called “frank and funny” (Time), “idiosyncratic and disarming” (The New York Times), “ambitious and clever” (Variety), “smart” (Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine), and “bloody brave” (SFX magazine, UK).

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