“The time is far off, the place is charming strange, and this is rollicking, jaw-clenching adventure.”
— Katherine Dunn
author of Geek Love
A thrilling adventure set in a peculiar world, a fantastical 18th century, where a young woman must uncover the secrets of her past while confronting the present dangers of a magical wilderness
When Tom Orange rescues a mysterious young woman from the flooded Antler River, he senses that their fates will deeply intertwine.
Dennis Mahoney's Bell Weather is an otherworldly and kinetic story that blends history and fantasy, mystery and adventure to mesmerizing effect.
A lush and wild land whose magical wonders—prismatic weather, strange creatures, and otherwordly natures—are shadowed with a dark threat. A captivating, kinetic fusion of mystery, adventure, history, and fantasy, Bell Weather will leave you spellbound.
Chapter One
Town of Root, Continent of Floria, 1763
Lush spring made amends for Root’s monstrous winters and remoteness in the forest, but the snowmelt, mud, and early-season flux left the town unstable, prone to floods and violent storms.
It was daybreak. The heavy fog had just begun to brighten, and the blurry trees and hills cupped the narrow valley like a pair of giant hands enclosing something fragile. Tom Orange stood with his horse, two miles north of town, and saw a woman in the middle of the riotous Antler River. He was tired and he hadn’t drunk his morning cup of smoak, so when the dull floral pattern of her gown caught his eye he disregarded it at first, assuming it was blossoms. Only blossoms on a huge, twisted branch—not a body. Not a thing worth saving in the wreckage of the flood.
Tom removed his tricorne, tightened up the ribbon in his ponytailed hair, and put his hat back on before the mist wet his scalp. Every spring the river surged with swirling flowers. White petals, black centers—they were minuscule and stemless and appeared in quick profusion, well before any known plants began to bloom. The river undulated white like a meadow made of foam. Some of the townspeople said they floated from the Wolf Mountains in the north. Others thought they blossomed at the bottom of the river and emerged when the potent spring current stirred them up.
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“Richly imagined in every detail, Bell Weather is a grand, ambitious tapestry of a novel that utterly transports the reader. I lost days in this amazing book.”
— Ted Kosmatka
author of The Flicker Men
“Dennis Mahoney has created a living map, one that clicks and whirrs with unexpected clockwork. As the gears turn and the map expands, storms of color wash through a historical landscape usually rendered in umber and soot. Bell Weather presents a vivid, fully realized, and fantastical new world.”
— Will Chancellor
author of A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall
“Bell Weather is both old-fashioned and newfangled, romantic and strange. Fans of the fantastic have a new world in which to lose themselves.”
— Thomas Mullen
author of The Last Town on Earth
“It takes a lot for a book to stop the world from spinning, but the moment I cracked Bell Weather, I was swept away by Dennis Mahoney's stunning imagination. What incredible fun. There's an entirely new and rich universe in town.”
— Richard C. Morais
author of The Hundred-Foot Journey
Credit: Jack Mahoney
Dennis Mahoney is the author of Fellow Mortals, a Booklist Top Ten Debut in 2013. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, son, and dog.
Dennis Mahoney Discusses the Influence of Series Television Shows on Bell Weather
Dennis Mahoney Discusses Bell Weather with Bookseller Stanley Hadsell
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Date published: 07/07/2015
