[A] devastating literary thriller.”
—People
“A spellbinding thriller.”
—Alta
“By turns chilling and stirringly beautiful, [The Red Grove] inventively imagines the freedom of women living without fear—and at what cost.”
—Bridget Thoreson, Booklist
“Fontaine shines . . . [The Red Grove] tugs at the heartstrings.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Rich . . . Propulsive . . . A thoughtful coming-of-age story enfolded inside a cleverly crafted double mystery.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A deeply atmospheric, haunting, and propulsive missing-person tale. In achingly beautiful language, Tessa Fontaine illuminates the space between reality and myth, story and history, utopia and dystopia. I loved this novel.”
—Angie Kim, author of Happiness Falls
“The Red Grove is a shimmering, hidden world, and Tessa Fontaine is ferocious in every line. Intoxicating and impossible to put down.”
—Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo’s Got Money Troubles
“A spellbinding tale of myth and mystery, of loyalties tested, of violence, determination, doubt, and love. Tessa Fontaine has crafted a story that is at once strange, troubling, and hopeful, with characters who will win readers’ hearts.”
—Therese Anne Fowler, author of It All Comes Down to This
“At once a haunting dream, a taut mystery, a level stare at gender violence, and an intricate generational tale of love and fear, The Red Grove is unlike any other novel I’ve ever read.”
—Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World
“Faced with the many chilling ways humans tear up utopias, Tessa Fontaine’s The Red Grove does not flinch as it treads a dark and thrilling path through nature, community, magic, and love.”
—Samantha Hunt, author of The Unwritten Book
“A scorching and suspenseful exploration of the complex architectures of families, the mysteries entrenched in landscapes, and the illusory nature of safety. Tessa Fontaine’s thrilling novel shines a bright light on the foundational myths on which lives are built.”
—Laura van den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears
“This gorgeous, frightening novel maps the hidden roots that link mother to daughter, and sibling to sibling, and utopia to fear. A deft and enrapturing novel full of underground secrets, ready to spring.”
—Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson
“I was hooked from the first page, wanting to be in the beautiful forest among the animals and the people who come to vivid life in these pages. Tessa Fontaine is brilliant.”
—Alice Elliott Dark, author of Fellowship Point
2024-02-17
A sudden death unsettles a Northern California community for women.
As the quarterly “reenactment of horror that led to the creation of our sanctuary” tells it, Red Grove was founded in the 19th century by Tamsen Nightingale, the survivor of a trek to California on which her sisters were killed and eaten by their starving husbands. Tamsen escaped, and when her own murderous spouse tracked her to this secluded grove of redwoods, she discovered that no woman could be harmed within its magical space. Sixteen-year-old Luce Shelley—who was brought to Red Grove at age 8 by her mother, Gloria, in 1989 after her beloved aunt Gem was beaten nearly to death by a boyfriend—believes fiercely in the place as refuge from the violent male world. Its healing atmosphere resuscitated Gem, albeit only to an “everdream” state that Gloria claims makes her a conduit to the dead loved ones, whom paying customers from nearby towns come to Red Grove to contact. As the novel opens, one of these “seekers” has a heart attack during a session and later dies in the hospital. The man’s son, buying into outsiders’ hostile depictions of Red Grove as a coven of witches or a lesbian commune, thinks Gloria willfully let him die and turns up menacingly at her front door; when Gloria disappears shortly thereafter, Luce suspects the son and vows to find her mother. Fontaine first paints a rich portrait of simmering tensions both between Gloria and Red Grove’s leader, Una, and within Gloria’s family, then launches a propulsive narrative of Luce’s quest for her mother, which leads her to the real story of Red Grove’s founding and the uncomfortable knowledge that violence is not exclusively employed by men. An affirmative finale shows Luce acting on her faith that Red Grove, newly based in truth, can continue to fulfill its mission as a place of peace and healing.
A thoughtful coming-of-age story enfolded inside a cleverly crafted double mystery.