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Synopsis
Marking the return of the mischievous, red-headed Dillard twins, this bewitching fantasy entangles the lovely sisters in a 100-year wager in the Native American spirit world. Laurel and Bess are touring bluegrass musicians who encounter two mysterious strangers with a powerful secret in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to their animal natures, Jim Changing Dog and Alice Corn Hair have been given human forms by the powerful Coyote Woman, but in return they must both find their true human loves in 100 years or be exiled into the animal world alone. Although Alice has found her love, trickster Jim hasn’t been able to commit to one woman until he sets eyes on free-spirited Bess, just before the deadline. Battling time and a meddling motorcycle seductress, the two new lovers must risk intimacy and loss in their quest for love.
Publishers Weekly
Canadian author De Lint and illustrator Vess make good medicine in this whimsical collaboration of words and images starring those rambunctious red-haired Dillard twins, Laurel and Bess, mentioned in 2002's Seven Wild Sisters and now stage center in their own short novel. Musicians Bess and Laurel have exchanged the green Northeast for the desert Southwest for their first road tour, playing their rockabilly music and having fun. Enter two unhappy Native American spirits, Jim Changing Dog and Alice Corn Hair, who've been charged by Coyote Woman to find soul mates in two weeks or lose their ability to shift into their cherished "five-fingered" human form. Soon the two sisters become key players in an unfolding melodrama involving the true love quest. Alice has already found her mate in Thomas, an aging artist, but Jim, a roving red-haired rascal, is uncertain he can ever fall in love until he tumbles for Bess after the twins' Tucson performance. When he begins to woo her, complications threaten to doom poor Jim to life as a red dog. Laurel then decides to awaken her animal self in order to help Bess learn the value of "connecting with the animal spirits inside." The mythic magic inevitable in all of De Lint's best fantasies marks the spirited conclusion. (Apr. 27) FYI: De Lint and Vess's last collaboration was a children's book, A Circle of Cats (2003). Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.