Delicate Creatures

Delicate Creatures is a modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s Othello set in rural Appalachia from Kimi Cunningham Grant.

Blue Hollow, West Virginia, 2005. Local journalist Britt has a terrible shock when she arrives at the home of her best friend, Des, to what looks like the remnants of a crime scene. Des, her son and her husband are all missing. Twenty years earlier, Ozias and his mother, Mari, arrive in the small town, hoping for a fresh start. The trouble is, the very white town of Blue Hollow isn't welcoming to two multiracial outsiders, except for Des, their young neighbor who lives up the mountain. Over time, Des and Ozias fall in love and dream of a life together, but when Ozias decides to join the army and is later deployed to Kuwait, Des eventually has no choice but to move on. Then, one night in 1992, Ozias returns to Blue Hollow, his homecoming marked by an act of violence.

Years later, when Britt makes her discovery at Des’s house, the sheriff and the town are quick to tie Ozias to the crime scene, given his recent return to Blue Hollow and his history with Des. But Britt isn’t so sure. After all, she has secrets of her own, one of which is a very good reason to suspect Des’s husband, Damian, might be to blame. Britt isn’t the only one hiding something, though, and as the search for answers heats up, a gripping drama unfolds. Blue Hollow is rife with secrets and preconceptions, and there are people in this town who will stop at nothing to keep the truth from coming to light.

Blending the coming-of-age story and exquisite nature writing of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, with the sophisticated narrative style of Liz Moore’s The God Of The Woods, Delicate Creatures is a masterful multithreaded mystery, told in dual timelines, that powerfully explores race, deception, and longing.