Cover: The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar; design by Spencer Fuller, Faceout Studio
Amal El-Mohtar’s The River Has Roots grabbed me by the heart strings when I had the honor of copyediting it. This novella from Tordotcom Publishing offers a beautiful aesthetic, both inside and out. The story comes as a breath of oxygen and a reminder of how love-affirming stories about women can be when women tell them.
I was fascinated to learn that the genesis of this novella was in rewriting (or righting) the dynamics of a type of ballad, the Cruel Sister. As El-Mohtar discusses in an episode of Authors on the Air, jealousy between sisters typically sparks the conflict in this type of verse. Her story explores how the form can bend to illustrate a different arrangement of cast and conflict, while retaining core elements.
On my first read, I knew none of this. I was simply transported down the River Liss, whose “waters brim with grammar,” as the opening lines tell us. Grammar, by the way, is a word for magic. This book had me at hello.
You can find out more about Amal El-Mohtar, a New York Times bestseller and winner of science fiction and fantasy’s most prestigious awards in prose and poetry, at her website.
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