Keturah and Lord Death

Publishers Weekly

Leavitt (Heck Superhero) crafts a darkly gorgeous medieval fairy tale, deftly spun by Keturah, Tide-by-Rood's beautiful 16-year-old storyteller. Keturah was orphaned at birth, and her life, begun with Death, entwines with him ever after. Indeed, when she follows a prized, elusive hart into Lord Temsland's forest and loses her way, Lord Death comes for her. Like Scheherazade, with her gift for storytelling she beguiles him into allowing her a day's reprieve, then another and one more, weaving her own quest-finding her own true love-into installments of a tale within the tale. Leavitt also introduces some beguiling details: the heroine bargains with the village wise woman for a love charm-an enchanted eye that will indicate to Keturah her true love. The townsfolk find Keturah both villain and savior before the tale's finish, as she attempts to ward off tragedy within her beloved village. A few farcical plot twists lighten the tone, as Keturah's stalwart friends Gretta and Beatrice rush to uncover Keturah's mate (and wind up finding their own)-before Lord Death's deadline. Leavitt renders in Lord Death a character rivaling the finest gothic depictions, in her portrayal of a palpably sexual man whom Keturah both resists and embraces. Well-tuned narration, at once plainspoken and lyrical, conjures the sunny, brimming village at fair time, but also the volatility of a vulnerable peasantry and the encroaching forest's secrets. A fine achievement. Ages 12-up. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

VOYA - Anita Beaman

Keturah has told many tales of the famed stag that lives in the forest and evades those who hunt him. When she spots the enchanted animal just inside the shadows of the trees, she follows, soon finding herself lost and alone in the forest. She waits for Death to claim her, and when he does, she is surprised to find him a melancholy but handsome young lord. Desperate to live, Keturah enchants Lord Death with her stories and bargains with him for her life. Granted a day to save her village from the coming plague and salvage her life by finding her true love, Keturah returns home to find herself an outcast among the villagers, who seem to sense and fear her closeness with Lord Death. In the spirit of Scheherazade, Keturah continues to captivate Lord Death with her stories and buy time for herself and her village. Lyrical and compelling, Leavitt's novel uses the conventions of traditional fairy tales to weave together a story of love and life in a rich medieval setting. Keturah is a strong character who is as enchanting as her stories, and through Keturah's eyes, the dirty village of Tide-by-Rood and its inhabitants become a magical setting worth cheating Death to save. Teen fans of fantasy and fairy tales will be as charmed by Keturah as Lord Death himself.

KLIATT - Janis Flint-Ferguson

Martine Leavitt has intertwined the Scheherazade legend of the Arabian Nights into an English legend of love and sacrifice. Keturah is a 16-year-old girl with a gift for storytelling. After following a large, majestic hart into the woods, she becomes hopelessly lost and meets the dark, handsome personification of Death. He is beguiled by her beauty and willing to allow her one more day before claiming her if she will finish the story she has started to tell him and name her true love. But he also tells her about the plague beginning in Great Town, not far from her beloved village of Tide-by-Rood. At the end of the day she knows she needs more time to find her true love, and so have a conclusion to the story she is telling. Through the intervening days, she is drawn into the village, into working with the son of Lord Temsland in encouraging the peasants and craftsmen to clean the mill and build a road as a way to stave off disease. She also makes a deal with the local "witch" for a charm that will help her identify her true love and free her from having to meet Death. After a slow start, the novel twists and turns through Keturah's dilemmas and solutions. Leavitt mixes elements of legend and folklore into a clever discussion of the role of death in the lives of humans. As Keturah comes to better know and understand Death, she is convinced that his power is not evil and she is better able to appreciate all the daily details of life around her.

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-At 16, Keturah is a poor peasant girl who constantly ponders her future. She has always been different from the other girls of the village and has unique but unrealized gifts. She has been raised by warm and loving grandparents, experiencing firsthand what a truly happy marriage is all about. The teen is committed to finding a suitable husband so she, too, can be happy but has not yet been successful. All this changes for her the day she follows the legendary hart deep into the forest and becomes lost. After three days of wandering aimlessly, she knows that she is about to die. Keturah is surprised to discover that Death is a strong, handsome lord to whom she immediately feels connected. Despite the fact that she is afraid, she challenges Lord Death, which is something he is not used to. She uses her storytelling skills to make him grant her a reprieve for one day. She spins a story of a love so pure that even Death cannot destroy it. He allows her to live another day on the condition that she come to him with an ending to the story and her true love. Keturah continues to delay the inevitable but in doing so learns much about herself and what she is truly capable of achieving. Along the way she also discovers that her true love was there beside her all along. This is a dark, but uplifting story combining elements of fantasy as well as romance. It has a gripping plot, strong characters, and a surprise ending that will intrigue readers.-Donna Rosenblum, Nassau Boces School Library System, NY Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

This lyrical tale adds surprises to the search for true love. Sixteen-year-old Keturah has never known love. When she's lost in the forest, the beautiful but severe Lord Death comes for her and decides to carry her off as his consort. Keturah strikes a bargain: If she can find true love in one day, thus proving to Death that there is more to love than dreams, he will spare her life. Scheherazade-like, Keturah draws out her single day into three, each night telling Death more of a story. Meanwhile, she examines the young men of her village as potential husbands, though without considering handsome John Temsland, the smitten son of her liege lord. As her deadline approaches, Keturah sees her village, her family and her friends as more beloved each day-her impending death adds spice to the mundane. Keturah's quest is lovely if (given its folktale style) not so original, but her unexpected solution to the puzzle leads to a thought-provoking and unabashedly sentimental conclusion. (Fantasy. 12-15)