A Letter to the Luminous Deep
A Letter to the Luminous Deep
📦 UK shipping £2.99 • Free over £50
Couldn't load pickup availability
Proudly Independent • Based in the UK
By Sylvie Cathrall
Description
A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.
'An underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I adore: nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, gorgeous worldbuilding, and anxious scholars doing their best to meet the world with kindness and curiosity' Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light
A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.
A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other.
Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.'s home, and she and Henerey vanish.
A year later, E.'s sister Sophy, and Henerey's brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery of their siblings' disappearances with the letters, sketches and field notes left behind. As they uncover the wondrous love their siblings shared, Sophy and Vyerin learn the key to their disappearance - and what it could mean for life as they know it.
Praise for Sylvie Cathrall:
'With its gorgeous underwater setting and whimsical academic sensibility, A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a strange, epistolary wonder.' Mary McMyne, author of The Book of Gothel
'A shimmering, delicately crafted delight. . . Readers looking for heart warming romance and scholarly mystery against the backdrop of a wildly imaginative world will be charmed' H.G. Parry, author of The Magician's Daughter
'Cathrall's debut caught me up on a wave of whimsy and swept me away with its charm. A story to be cherished' Lyra Selene, author of A Feather So Black
'A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a fascinating and charming story told in a uniquely elegant voice. A watery wonder of a novel! I loved it.' Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches
'A Letter to the Luminous Deep is like nothing I've read before. The heartfelt intimacy of the epistolary narrative, juxtaposed with the magnificent oceanic world-building, results in a novel that is at once deeply human and mind-bogglingly imaginative. Both the setting and the story are exquisite, but it was the lovingly crafted voices of the characters that kept me hooked from beginning to end' Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
About the Author
Sylvie Cathrall writes stories of hope and healing with healthy doses of wonder and whimsy. She holds a graduate degree in odd Victorian art and has handled more than a few nineteenth-century letters (with great care). Sylvie married her former pen pal and lives in the mountains, where she dresses impractically and dreams of the sea.
Share
Not for me this one. A little too slow and not enough happening to keep me interested
Beautiful as its gorgeous cover this is a unique romance in epistolary format with a mystery that kept me guessing as I unravelled the story of E. and Henery. The blend of regency style sensibilities and futuristic technology was intriguing and I look forward to the conclusion of the duology. If you are more invested in vibes than plot this is going to be right up your alley.
After viewing a previously unknown/unseen species of fish/eel, E begins a correspondence with Scholar Henerey Clel. Through their letters we get to see as their correspondence blossoms into romance. After a mysterious seaquake destroys E’s home and E and Henerey both vanish and are presumed dead. We follow the journey as their siblings Sophy and Vyerin begin an archive of their last few months through letters, sketches and notes. To discover the truth of what happened to their siblings.Sounds rather mysterious doesn’t it? In all honesty when I read the premise of this book, I wasn’t sure I’d like it so I opted for the kindle copy of this book when it was on offer for 99p. I now have the hardback copy of this book and have listened to the audiobook as well. I loved this book, it was a new concept to me to read a book primarily that is written in letters but I was utterly delighted and charmed with this book. I loved reading Henerey and E’s letters and reading Sophy and Vyerin’s letters alongside them. Henerey and E were so sweet and bashful as they were writing to each other.Sylvie Cathrall is a new author to me but I enjoyed her style of writing, this book reminded me of one of my favourite, beloved, much read books, Emma by Jane Austin. This wasn’t a steamy book but it is what I would describe as a romance of manners similar to the above mentioned book as it was a cosy gentle romance, Henerey was just so charming as he was writing to E. I really relate to E as I have anxiety and social awkwardness so it was refreshing to read about a character who was so similar to myself and who struggles asThis book has been on my radar for some time as I debated whether to get it or not but I’m glad I did. If you like charming but earnest MMC’s and refreshingly realistic FMC’s in a slow burn romance this book is for you. I await in anticipation for the next installation and find out how this charming duology ends.
This is an epistolary writing style that is a tale of the deep and romance between two scholars. This romantasy is an interesting debut. The writing style was unusual and not my normal enjoyment, but I can appreciate what the author was trying to do. Would recommend if your looking for romantasy with a hint of dark academia vibes
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me a copy of A Letter to the Luminous Deep!It is the story of Sophy who lost her sister E. and has a look at letters that E. kept. She sees that most of her correspondence was with Henerey who was with E. and suffered the same fate. She then contacts his brother Vyerin to have a broader picture of her sister and their relationship.I LOVE epistolary novels, so this book was made for me! It was such a cozy, sweet, and intriguing novel, I adored it. I was EATING E. and Henerey’s letters, their first “encounter” and how they would talk to each other was so so sweet.I started to feel like it was getting long towards the end, but I think it’s only because by then I realised that there would be another book (which I’m quite excited about and plan on reading!)It was also nice to learn more about the lives of E. and Henerey’s friends and family.I would highly recommend it!