The Last Tale of the Flower Bride: A Novel

“Decadence laced with horror . . . A delightfully meta fairy tale . . . Magic emanates from every exquisitely crafted sentence.” — Charlie Jane Anders, Washington Post

In the tradition of sumptuous gothic novels like The Cloisters and The Bloody Chambers comes a dark fairy tale-infused story about a cursed friendship and a marriage steeped in secrets—the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.

Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada, a cold woman whose beauty was rivaled only by her mystery. He was a scholar of myths. She was an heiress. Far from prying eyes, they sank into a strange world of their own devotion. But in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.

When Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying, the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams. Once they arrive, the bridegroom soon finds himself unable to resist the unnerving allure of Indigo’s forbidden past. 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 if intentional, the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, and the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.

Through a tapestry of secrets woven through dangerous shards of truth, Chokshi’s characters run down dark hallways, always looking back, yet hoping to find light at the end. With the fever dream atmosphere of Mexican Gothic, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a mesmerizing warning about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.