Delicate Creatures

by Kimi Cunningham Grant

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.

Genres: Fiction

Kindle Edition

Expected publication August 3, 2027

About the author

Kimi Cunningham Grant is the author of four books. Silver Like Dust is a memoir about her Japanese-American grandparents and their experience in the internment camp at Heart Mountain during World War II. Her second book, Fallen Mountains, is a literary mystery set in a small town in Pennsylvania, where fracking has just begun. In her third book, These Silent Woods, a father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past. Her fourth book, The Nature of Disappearing, features a woman who must team up with the ex-boyfriend who ruined her life to trek deep into the Idaho wilderness in search of a friend who's gone missing.

Before she wrote novels, Kimi was an award-winning poet and nonfiction writer.

She lives with her family in Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Destiny || readingisyourdestiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily my favorite read this year 👏

Impeccable storytelling as always with Kimi.

The short chapters and numerous POVs made this literary catnip for me.

I feel like I've known these characters my whole life and am so sad my time with them is over (until I listen to the audiobook when it releases, no doubt).

I keep trying to decide on a favorite character and just when I think I know, I change my mind again; a testament to how well-developed and layered each is.

Chris Whitaker and Liz Moore fans will devour this book just like I did!