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About
Story Easton knows the first line of every book, but never the last. She never cries, but she fakes it beautifully. And at night, she escapes from the failure of her own life by breaking into the homes of others, and feeling, for a short while, like a different, better person. But one night, as an uninvited guest in someone's empty room, she discovers a story sadder than her own: a boy named Cooper Payne, whose dream of visiting the Amazon rainforest and discovering the moonflower from his favorite book, Once Upon a Moonflower, died alongside his father. For reasons even she doesn't entirely understand, Story decides that she will help Cooper and his mother. She will make his dream come true. The Understory is a magical, moving, funny, and poignant story of failure and success; of falling apart and rebuilding; and of coincidences that never really are. Part comedy, part drama, and part fairy tale, Elizabeth Leiknes's second novel is a wonder you won't soon forget.
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Reviews
"In The Understory, Elizabeth Leiknes paints a rich and theme-tastic storybook-world filled with complex characters who ache and suffer in very real ways, characters who need the magic Leiknes provides to reclaim what they've lost and find what they've been missing. A thoroughly engaging read, The Understory, like most fairy tales, leaves one believing in the transformative magic within."
Josh Galarza, author of Corpse, A Novel, and recipient of The Prestigious Artist Fellowshi
"Leiknes's love for the interconnectedness of human stories is contagious. Story Easton, the aptly named heroine of this cheeky and irreverent fairy tale, has a charming case of literary Tourette syndrome (among other enchanting quirks) and is a delight to tag along with on her week-long attempt to make a success of herself. Layer by layer, laugh by laugh, The Understory shows Leiknes's talents in
Ben Rogers, author of acclaimed novel The Flamer, and recipient of a Nevada Arts Council F