Editions

The Gloaming

The Gloaming

'The best lives leave a mark.' A bewitching tale of first love, shattering grief, and the dangerous magic that draws us home

Mara’s island is one of stories and magic, but every story ends in the same way. She will finish her days on the cliff, turned to stone and gazing out at the horizon like all the islanders before her.

Mara’s parents – a boxer and a ballerina – chose this enchanted place as a refuge from the turbulence of their previous lives; they wanted to bring up their children somewhere special and safe. But the island and the sea don’t care what people want, and when they claim a price from her family, Mara’s world unravels.

It takes the arrival of Pearl, mysterious and irresistible, to light a spark in Mara again, and allow her to consider a different story for herself.

The Gloaming is a gorgeous tale of love and grief, and the gap between fairy tales and real life.

Reviews

  • "Prepare to enter a book of otherworldly tales and delights."

    Francesca Brown, Stylist

  • "A gorgeous, atmospheric, magical love story."

    i

  • "Kirsty Logan is very talented... Selkies and other creatures of fairytales are offered us side by side with a bored girl pulling pints in the island pub... Logan brings it off, daringly... a richly imagined and many-layered novel"

    Allan Massie, The Scotsman

  • "A gorgeous story and unlike anything else."

    The Sun

  • "The lustrous, abandoned intensity of her prose is always a joy"

    Claire Allfree, Daily Mail

More from this Author

About the Author

Kirsty Logan

Kirsty Logan is a writer, performer, literary editor, writing mentor and book reviewer. Her first book, The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales, won the Scott Prize and was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize. Her novel, The Gracekeepers, won a Lambda Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Golden Tentacle for best debut. She regularly performs her stories at events and festivals throughout the world. She lives in Glasgow with her wife and their rescue puppy.

Kirsty Logan

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