The Moonstone Covenant
Published on 26. December 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
350 pages
978-1-961814-15-8 (ISBN)
Description
The story of four women who set out to uncover the secret origins of an intricate, magical city-and to change its fate.
"Jill Hammer's first fantasy novel offers beautifully detailed worldbuilding and, like Le Guin's work, is underpinned by themes of gender, sexuality, prejudice, and politics." -Zoe L. Tongue, Ancillary Review of Books
Istehar Sha'an, whose unique powers allow her to communicate with trees and books, has led her community of refugee forest people to a remarkable place. In the archipelago-city of Moonstone, the Sha'an people find themselves in an extraordinary, multicultural metropolis that houses the Library: the world's all-encompassing repository of wisdom.
But in their search for a new home, the refugees soon garner the suspicion of Moonstone's locals, who forbid their magical practices. And when a hostile prince makes a bid to inherit the city's rule from his father, Istehar and her people realize they may be faced with exile-or worse.
Meanwhile, Istehar has married three wives of Moonstone-a brave warrior librarian, a subtle-minded former concubine, and a tenacious apothecary who has spent years trying to solve her parents' murder. Driven by magical intuition and guided by a mysterious book, Istehar and her wives embark on a journey that will transform not only their lives, but the city of Moonstone itself.
Readers of Ursula K. Le Guin and Guy Gavriel Kay will delight in The Moonstone Covenant's richly imagined world of mysterious archives, bookboats, and divinations-and its tales of both betrayal and healing.
"Jill Hammer's first fantasy novel offers beautifully detailed worldbuilding and, like Le Guin's work, is underpinned by themes of gender, sexuality, prejudice, and politics." -Zoe L. Tongue, Ancillary Review of Books
Istehar Sha'an, whose unique powers allow her to communicate with trees and books, has led her community of refugee forest people to a remarkable place. In the archipelago-city of Moonstone, the Sha'an people find themselves in an extraordinary, multicultural metropolis that houses the Library: the world's all-encompassing repository of wisdom.
But in their search for a new home, the refugees soon garner the suspicion of Moonstone's locals, who forbid their magical practices. And when a hostile prince makes a bid to inherit the city's rule from his father, Istehar and her people realize they may be faced with exile-or worse.
Meanwhile, Istehar has married three wives of Moonstone-a brave warrior librarian, a subtle-minded former concubine, and a tenacious apothecary who has spent years trying to solve her parents' murder. Driven by magical intuition and guided by a mysterious book, Istehar and her wives embark on a journey that will transform not only their lives, but the city of Moonstone itself.
Readers of Ursula K. Le Guin and Guy Gavriel Kay will delight in The Moonstone Covenant's richly imagined world of mysterious archives, bookboats, and divinations-and its tales of both betrayal and healing.
Reviews / Votes
"The Moonstone Covenant is a many-layered feat of the imagination, gathering the stories of four very different women who share a marriage-as difficult a feat in their world as it would be in ours-and spinning them through the traumas of a world on the edge of chaos, a place where magic is core to the lives of the women who wield it, but is loathed and feared by those who surround them. Each wife's viewpoint, her unique voice, opens up the weave of this world, leading us by the hand into a magical and spiritual system deeply embedded in the earth: trees speak here, and have opinions that can change the way the world works.In lyrical and beautiful language, Jill Hammer lays bare the prejudices of an island landscape where the waterways are as important as highways. Through the tale of a four-way marriage, she carries us into the depths of relationships between women, the flows of feeling and passion, history and trust, treachery both imagined and real. Betrayal lies at the heart of this story, but its healing is a thread running through from the start. A genuinely engaging, enlivening, and inspiring read!"
-Manda Scott, author of Any Human Power and host of the Accidental Gods podcast
"Part murder mystery, part political thriller, part fantasy epic, The Moonstone Covenant celebrates the power and wisdom of books, the natural world, and queer love. This wondrous novel is a gift of imagination for readers everywhere."
-Jonathan Vatner, author of Carnegie Hill and The Bridesmaids' Union
"Like Tolkien and Le Guin, Jill Hammer has conjured up a richly detailed world, alive with magic, political intrigue, and a robust cast of fascinating characters. Readers of fantasy will love this book!"
-Ellen Frankel, author of The Deadly Scrolls
"In the romance-laden, mysterious fantasy novel The Moonstone Covenant, a women quartet's collective gifts alter their homeland's future."
-Foreword Reviews
"Set in an archipelago, a land of boats and bridges, Moonstone, the backdrop for Jill Hammer's debut novel, is a nation so devoted to books and knowledge, it's like a university that morphed into a city-state. As its national focus on books along might suggest, this is a kind of Jewish Narnia."
-Mildred Faintly, Jewish Women's Archive
" Jill Hammer's first fantasy novel offers beautifully detailed worldbuilding and, like Le Guin's work, is underpinned by themes of gender, sexuality, prejudice, and politics."
-Dr. Zoe L. Tongue, Ancillary Review of Books
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
Detailed map drawing of the fictional land of Moonstone
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
360 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-961814-15-8 (9781961814158)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jill Hammer is a celebrated author, scholar, rabbi, ritualist, poet, and dreamworker. The Moonstone Covenant is her first published work of fantasy fiction, but she has been reading and writing fantasy since she was young. Like some of her characters, she has a deep love of books, trees, enchanted castles, and mysterious alleyways. She is the author of eight other books, including works of fiction, poetry, and feminist theological scholarship. She lives with her family in Manhattan, where she spends a great deal of time in Central Park.