Three people in the same northern city of Duluth, Minnesota, are vanishing in different ways. Howard Wright finds his skin turning transparent, revealing the bloody workings of musculature beneath. His body becomes otherworldly and insistent, spinning him into visions that echo trauma from his childhood.
Sarah Turnsfield is living under an assumed identity, on the run from her past as a meteoric scientific prodigy. Content to work as a grocery clerk, she is determined to live a life on her own terms, where the landscape of her mind is hers alone.
Jo Breckmier seeks a new start in Duluth after a bitter divorce. She moves into the apartment unit across from Howard's, leaning on alcohol and a stubborn will to reinvent herself. The woods and the lake seem to call to her as she laments her shipwrecked life.
When instinct, the swiftly warming spring, and Howard's monstrous body conspire to bring the three together, each will discover how long they can hide-Jo from her loneliness, Sarah from her rising paranoia, and Howard from his intensifying transformation.
On one remarkable night along the rugged shore of Lake Superior, the lines between reality and legend intersect. Identities are broken and remade.
In this contemporary monster story, the earth itself amplifies both the grotesque and the beautiful.
Reading group guide available to download from publisher's website.
Industry Reviews
"The writing is exquisite...Wonderful characters, beautiful plotting, and a dramatic finale add up to a splendid novel."-ALA Booklist (starred review)
"Amy Casey's The Sturgeon's Heart is one of the best-written debuts I've read this year: every page contains a sentence that should make you gasp with joy, and the story is as thrilling as the prose. I won't forget Casey's characters anytime soon, or the beautifully evoked landscape against which their moving story is set."-Matt Bell, author of Appleseed
"Casey does not shy away from flawed characters, but renders them honestly, tenderly, and without cynicism. The Sturgeon's Heart is intricate and beautiful. It made me long to see the shores of Lake Superior."-Cole Nagamatsu, author of We Were Restless Things
"Quietly powerful and gorgeously written, The Sturgeon's Heart flickers and twists before your eyes, luring characters together in unexpected ways. This is a moving and elegant debut, well worth the read."-Valerie Laken, author of Dream House and Separate Kingdoms
"The inner workings of a young man's body suddenly become visible through his skin, and the start of his nightmare draws two women on the run from their past lives together in a darkly sensual fantasy tale that comprises equal parts David Lynch and The Shape of Water. I loved the poetic weirdness and stark sense of place in this gutsy first novel, from the first fluid transformations to the somber realism of the conclusion."-Peter Robertson, author of Conclusion.
