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“At once chilling and soulful, this hauntingly powerful tale
weaves together the best elements of the psychological thriller, fantasy
horror, and historical fiction. Stephen Lloyd Jones has penned a deeply
inventive, dazzling debut novel.”
— Eliot Pattison, Edgar Award–winning author of The Skull Mantra
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“The String Diaries
is an engrossing, mind-bending supernatural tale, and Stephen Lloyd Jones is as
exciting a new voice as I’ve come across in some time, a writer who understands
what makes the pulse race.”
— Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author
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“Jones doles out his narrative revelations with patience, turning over
his cards deliberately like a well-trained casino dealer.”
— Entertainment Weekly
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“The String Diaries is terrifying,
and deliciously so…A sophisticated horror story that induces elemental terror.
It’s perfect for the beach, particularly since you don’t want to be alone with
it in the dark.”
— New York Daily News
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“This is a book of authorial wizardry, as Jones hopscotches among three
time periods and locales (late 1800s Hungary, 1970s France and England, and
present-day Snowdonia in northern Wales) with grace, wit, and dexterity.”
— Dallas Morning News
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"[A] globe-trotting, time-traveling
page-turner…An elegant and exotic neo-Gothic horror story…may bring to mind
Elizabeth Kostova’s [book] The Historian….Jones’
descriptions [are] fabulous…Like the best Gothic storytellers, Jones’
characters feel things deeply and dramatically…An exciting ride.”
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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“A scary and exciting horror novel that keeps us off-kilter, as we try to figure out what’s going on until we’re so
involved in the story that we couldn’t look away even if we tried…This is Jones’ first novel, and you don’t see many debuts more ambitious and memorable than this one.”
— Booklist (starred review)
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“If there’s anything the frightened
characters in Jones’ first novel learn, it’s not to trust anyone unless they
can tell you what you got for your last birthday or what size shoes you wear…Give credit to Jones
for coming up with a supernatural tale that’s so ambitious and off the beaten
path and for portraying Hannah and her brood so affectingly.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“I have never read a book with such frenzied impatience. The String Diaries is unputdownable.
Stephen Lloyd Jones has written a debut novel as frightening and layered as
Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian and
as clever and riveting as Dan Brown’s The
Da Vinci Code.”
— Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon
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“With The String
Diaries, Stephen Lloyd Jones has created a new mythology of the monstrous
to rival Stoker’s or Shelley’s. Grounded in the real world and populated by characters
we believe in, this is a book of magic for the doubtful, a fantastic tale for
skeptics, at once transporting and convincing.”
— Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist
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I loved this book.
— Marcus Sakey, author of Brilliance
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Reading The String Diaries made me feel, in the best sense, like a child again. Nothing was more important than the fate of Stephen Lloyd Jones's courageous and very human heroine Hannah Wilde. Meals went uncooked, bills went unpaid, as I waited to find out if she would win freedom for herself and her daughter against the forces of darkness. I was scared, enthralled and amazed by this stunning debut.
— Margot Livesey, author of the New York Times bestselling The Flight of Gemma Hardy and Eva Moves the Furniture
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This novel is a breakneck chase down a long and winding road with the devil sitting beside you in the car.
— Ben Loory, author of Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day
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With The String Diaries, Stephen Lloyd Jones has created a new mythology of the monstrous to rival Stoker's or Shelley's. Grounded in the real world and populated by characters we believe in, this is a book of magic for the doubtful, a fantastic tale for skeptics, at once transporting and convincing.
— Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist
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I have never read a book with such frenzied impatience. The String Diaries is unputdownable. Stephen Lloyd Jones has written a debut novel as frightening and layered as Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian and as clever and riveting as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.
— Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon, The Wilding and Refresh, Refresh