12 new YA books you should stay indoors and read this August
By Lacy Baugher
House of Salt and Sorrows – Erin A. Craig
Based loosely on the Grimms Brothers tale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” House of Salt and Sorrows is an atmospheric, moody story about mysterious deaths that plague an island dukedom.
The story follows Annaleigh, who lives in a manor by the sea. However, her family is believed to be curse, and death seems to follow them. Over the course of several years her mother and four of her sisters have all died under mysterious and violent circumstances — the plague, drowning, falling and more.
However, Annaleigh begins to suspect that their deaths were no accidents – and probably weren’t caused by a curse, either. But what is going on?
The official synopsis has a bit more context:
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve Thaumas girls, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of their lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.
Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?
House of Salt and Sorrows is available on August 6.