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A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales--the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi. Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Castenada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after--and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past. But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor''s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo''s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife''s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives. Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue , The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
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"Reading Chokshi's prose is like sinking deeply into the overstuffed arms of a plush, purple velvet sofa. Her lavish descriptions . . . wrap you in sumptuous sensory detail." - New York Times
"Chokshi's writing is vivid and lovely." - Entertainment Weekly
"Darkly gorgeous and utterly entrancing, Chokshi's adult fairy tale is as deadly as any fable of old; the lush, glittering prose and haunting mystery gilding a story sharper than a huntsman's blade." - Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass
"A fairy tale in the oldest and truest sense: a haunting dream full of blood and love, vicious truths and beautiful lies. It swallowed me whole, and I went willingly." - Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Once and Future Witches
"I'm not sure I can capture how much this book moved, gripped, devoured me. Chokshi draws stars from the darkness. An opulent, engrossing tale with all the power of a myth and all the truth of a parable-reading a story like this reminds you why we tell them in the first place." - Kiran Millwood Hargrave, internationally bestselling author of The Mercies
"Roshani Chokshi's The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is an elegant, intoxicating cocktail of a book. Her gorgeous prose builds a fairy tale otherworld around you, one you'll do anything to remain in." - Kat Howard, award-winning author of An Unkindness of Magicians
"Roshani Chokshi's transfixing first novel for adults is a fairytale-infused story about marriage and the secrets couples keep from each other. That, and an enchanted house off the coast of Washington and hotel fortune." - Today.com
"Like the best Gothic novels, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride lures you in, cups you in a dreamlike trance, and-most impressively-makes the whole trick look effortless. A story of obsessive bonds and the lies we eagerly devour to be loved, it is at once exquisitely intense and profoundly sad. Reader, I was at its mercy. " - Isabel Cañas, bestselling author of The Hacienda
"How well do you really know the person you married? That's the question at the heart of Roshani Chokshi's unsettlingly gorgeous adult fantasy. In the book, a man is forced to face uncomfortable truths about his mysterious wife, Indigo, on a trip to her childhood home. . . . This book is for anyone who loves dark fairy tales and is obsessed with the monstrous nature of teenage girlhood." - Kalyani Saxena, NPR, "Best Books of the Year"
"A dazzling fairy tale for adults. . . . Take a fairy tale, infuse it with a gothic flair, drizzle in some dark romance, and you get The Last Tale of the Flower Bride." - Time, Best Books of February 2023
"Equal parts fairy tale, friendship story, and an examination of marriage, this gothic tale is lush and haunting. Chokshi, already a best-selling author of children's and YA books, returns to the adult world in this winning, original work. Highly recommended for all fantasy collections." - Booklist, starred review
"An exquisitely painted fairy tale filled with dark enchantment and an exploration of the monsters within." - BuzzfeedNews.com
"I don't know how otherwise to explain this-The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a Scorpio of a book. It is lush and extremely sensual from the very beginning, full of dark secrets and elegance that will sweep you off your feet. . . . An absolutely gorgeous read, with prose like expensive perfume and pearls. You won't want it to ever end." - Christina Orlando, Tor.com
