Tessa Fontaine

Long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeNamed a Must-Read by People and Alta " A] devastating literary thriller." --People"Spellbinding." --Alta What kind of world might we have, who might we become, if everyone were truly safe? What price would we pay for that kind of freedom? There are secrets beneath every community--even those founded with the purest of intentions--secrets as strong and reaching as the roots that keep us connected to one another and anchored to home. The Red Grove is a special place, protected. Some say a spell was cast by its founder, Tamsen Nightingale. Some say the mountain lions stalking the nearby hills guard its mysteries and its boundaries. Some say the mighty redwoods keep its people safe. Yet a man has died on the Red Grove's sacred ground. And Luce's mother, Gloria, has vanished. The Red Grove is Luce's whole world. She is utterly devoted to its mission, its rituals and history. Still, she knows that her mother, frustrated free spirit though she might be, wouldn't just leave without a word, wouldn't leave Luce's little brother, Roo, and their aunt, Gem, whose life and care in a suspended state they call everdream depend on Gloria in every way. But strange things begin to happen as Luce tries to figure out where her mother has gone. Clicks echo out from the trees, flies pound against the windows, and a strange man keeps calling on the phone. The deeper Luce digs, the more she must ask if her beloved home, the women she admires, and the stories they tell might be built on a devastating lie. The debut novel by the acclaimed author of The Electric Woman, Tessa Fontaine's The Red Grove is a story about mothers, daughters, and sisters, about the dangers of being a woman in this world, and about the flawed, fierce choices we make to protect what we love.

Long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeNamed a Must-Read by People and Alta " A] devastating literary thriller." --People"Spellbinding." --Alta What kind of world might we have, who might we become, if everyone were truly safe? What price would we pay for that kind of freedom? There are secrets beneath every community--even those founded with the purest of intentions--secrets as strong and reaching as the roots that keep us connected to one another and anchored to home. The Red Grove is a special place, protected. Some say a spell was cast by its founder, Tamsen Nightingale. Some say the mountain lions stalking the nearby hills guard its mysteries and its boundaries. Some say the mighty redwoods keep its people safe. Yet a man has died on the Red Grove's sacred ground. And Luce's mother, Gloria, has vanished. The Red Grove is Luce's whole world. She is utterly devoted to its mission, its rituals and history. Still, she knows that her mother, frustrated free spirit though she might be, wouldn't just leave without a word, wouldn't leave Luce's little brother, Roo, and their aunt, Gem, whose life and care in a suspended state they call everdream depend on Gloria in every way. But strange things begin to happen as Luce tries to figure out where her mother has gone. Clicks echo out from the trees, flies pound against the windows, and a strange man keeps calling on the phone. The deeper Luce digs, the more she must ask if her beloved home, the women she admires, and the stories they tell might be built on a devastating lie. The debut novel by the acclaimed author of The Electric Woman, Tessa Fontaine's The Red Grove is a story about mothers, daughters, and sisters, about the dangers of being a woman in this world, and about the flawed, fierce choices we make to protect what we love.

This Side of the Divide: New Lore of the American West is the second entry in the Divide anthology series attempting to capture the newness, vastness, territoriality, and sense of transience alive in the American West. In this collection legends, myths, tales, omens, folk horror, and science fiction explore the fantastical, the apocalyptic, the bizarre, the unknown, and the apocryphal origins and conclusions of life on the occidental side of the Continental Divide. In this collection, after the ‘what is’ comes the ‘what will be’, as acclaimed authors and emerging voices weave tales that push the boundaries of imagination: Ken Liu takes us to the frontiers of America and China in a stark tale of perseverance; Kate Bernheimer immerses us in the fairytale lands of modern celebrity; Benjamin Percy takes us hunting for deer and connection in eastern Oregon; Yuri Herrera grants us insight on our future overlords; Tessa Fontaine places us in-between with a monster and a question; Dominique Dickey chases familiar ghosts; and Willy Vlautin takes us on the wild ride that is a winning streak. Accompanied by a foreword from This Side of the Divide alum, and author of The Forbidden City, Vanessa Hua, these twenty-five pieces of new lore excavate the beauty, the uncertainty, the longing, the bitter interactions and stark truths; the strong people and vivid places that have shaped, and will continue to shape the West until the end of days.

Featured in Amazon.com's Best Books of 2018. When her mother had a series of strokes, Tessa Fontaine couldnâ??t stand to watch her mother disappear. The Electric Woman tells Tessaâ??s story of joining Americaâ??s last travelling freak show, and learning to perform death-defying acts in order to come to terms with her motherâ??s illness.