House of Salt and Sorrows

 
CANDLELIGHT   REFLECTED   OFF  THE  SILVER ANCHOR etched onto my sister s necklace. It was an ugly piece of jewelry and something Eulalie would never have picked out for herself. She loved simple strands of gold, extravagant collars of diamonds. Not . . . that. Papa must have selected it for her. I fumbled at my own necklace of black pearls, wanting to offer her something more stylish, but the battalion of pallbearers shut the coffin lid before I could undo the clasp.
 
We, the People of the Salt, commit this body back to the sea, the High Mariner intoned as the wooden box slid deep into the waiting crypt.
 
I tried not to notice the smattering of lichens growing inside the gaping mouth, drawn wide to swallow her whole. Tried not to think of my sister who was alive, and warm, and breathing just days before being laid to rest. Tried not to imagine the thin bottom of the coffin growing fat with condensation and salt water before splitting asunder and spilling Eulalie s body into the watery depths beneath our family mausoleum.
 
I tried, instead, to cry.
 
I knew it would be expected of me, just as I knew the tears were unlikely to come. They would later on, probably this evening when I passed her bedroom and saw the black shrouds covering her wall of mirrors. Eulalie had had so many mirrors.
Eulalie.
 
She d been the prettiest of all my sisters. Her rosy lips were forever turned in a smile. She loved a good joke, her bright green eyes always ready for a quick wink. Scores of suitors vied for her attention, even before she became the eldest Thaumas daughter, the one set to inherit all of Papa s fortune.
 
We are born of the Salt, we live by the Salt, and to the Salt we return, the High Mariner continued.
 
To the Salt, the mourners repeated.
 
As Papa stepped forward to place two gold pieces at the foot of the crypt payment to Pontus for easing my

Erin A. Craig has always loved telling stories. After getting her BFA in Theatre Design and Production from the University of Michigan, she stage-managed tragic operas filled with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky. An avid reader, an embroidery enthusiast, a rabid basketball fan, and a collector of typewriters, Erin makes her home in West Michigan with her husband and daughter. Her debut novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, has sold over 100,000 copies; her second novel, Small Favors, was an instant New York Times bestseller.

"It s a fairy tale, a young-adult romance (though gothic enough for adult readers) and a whodunit too." The Wall Street Journal

"An eerie, lovely Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling full of ghosts and gods and a fascinating waterfront world and I'm reading it from behind my fingers." Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

"Chilling and atmospheric." Laura E. Weymouth, author of The Light Between Worlds

Evocative details and lyrical, moody prose  . . . a richly conceived story that blends mythic and Gothic storytelling." PW
 
"The novel s vivid, evocative atmosphere will please fans of the gothic . . . chills aplenty." The Bulletin
 
"Equal parts gothic fairy tale and romance . . . compulsively readable." SLJ
 
"This moody maritime retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses blends elements of suspense and horror for a gothic twist on a familiar tale. A memorably built world populated with a hauntingly doomed family." Booklist