The king of the seaside kingdom of Highmoor lived his life as a husband and father to twelve beautiful daughters. However, all this is abruptly cut short when his wife dies while giving birth to the youngest, and all the descendants soon turn out to be cursed.
The mark of a curse turns out to be heavier for adolescent girls than for a king in fear and mourning. Though thirsting for princely advances, they must endure the isolation and fear of others. That is why, like in The Grimm Brothers’ Dance Shoes , they sneak out at night to mysterious balls, where they spend their time dancing and courtship. Annaleigh, the main character, does not agree to all of this. At the same time, however, she is tired of living in constant mourning – first for her mother, and then for her three sisters, and she would also like to get carried away by the dances. So she decides to break the curse on her family.
Dancing and pouting
Craig leads her story very cleverly – Annaleigh doesn’t believe in the curse herself at first, but over time she not only realizes its burden, but also wants it to end. The reader accompanies her on this journey and meets some quite interesting heroes.
The House of Salt and Tears combines several interesting motifs, but the most important are dancing and dance parades. The writer draws handfuls from fairy tales and folk tales. This gives the story a certain authenticity and blushes.
While the novel seems at first idyllic, like King Highmoor’s life described at the beginning, it becomes more disturbing and dark over time. The translation monsters and the clumsy language become all the more painful and uncomfortable. While the whole thing is surprisingly addictive, some phrases are completely out of the mood, like a nasty bump in the road. This spoils the reception of the book even more than the fact that it is aimed at younger readers, so it can seem a bit too naive at times.
However, if you are able to turn a blind eye to these inconveniences, a really interesting and disturbing adventure awaits you, full of romances, dark secrets and fairy tales. And the author will lead you through everything with a truly dancing step …
