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Sarah Beth Durst

Biography

Sarah Beth Durst

Sarah Beth Durst is the author of over 25 books for adults, teens and kids, including THE BONE MAKER, THE LAKE HOUSE and SPARK. She won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. Several of her books have been optioned for film/television, including DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, which was made into a TV movie and was a question on "Jeopardy!" Sarah is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her two children and her ill-mannered cat.

Books by Sarah Beth Durst

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fiction, Magical Realism, Women's Fiction

After her mother dies, Hannah doesn’t know how to exist without her. In fact, Hannah isn’t even certain that she does exist. No one seems to see or hear her, and she finds herself utterly alone. Grief-stricken and confused, Hannah sets out to find new purpose in life --- and answers about who (and what) she really is. Hannah’s only remaining family is her older sister, Leah. Yet even Leah doesn’t seem to notice her. And while Hannah can see and hear her sister, she also sees beautiful and terrible things that don’t --- or shouldn’t --- exist. She learns there’s much more to this world than meets the eye and struggles to make sense of it all. When Hannah sees Leah taking the same dangerous path that consumed their own mother --- where lies supplant reality --- she’s desperate to get through to her.

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fantasy, Fiction

Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor --- a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived. Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice --- for each day he lives, she will live one less. She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. Defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility: Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all. 

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fantasy, Fiction

In Becar, who you are in this life will determine your next life. Yet there is hope --- you can change your destiny with the choices you make. But for the darkest individuals, you come back as a kehok, a monster, and are doomed to be a kehok for the rest of time. Unless you can win the Races. After a celebrated career as an elite kehok rider, Tamra became a professional trainer. Then a tragic accident left her nearly broke. To prevent the local temple from taking her daughter away from her, once again she must find a winning kehok...and a rider willing to trust her. Raia is desperate to get away from her domineering family and cruel fiancé. As a kehok rider, she could earn enough to buy her freedom. But she needs a first-rate trainer. Tamra hires Raia and pairs her with a strange new kehok with the potential to win --- if he can be tamed.

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fantasy, Fiction

Life is precious and precarious on the islands of Belene. Besieged by a capricious ocean full of malicious spirits, the people of the islands seek joy where they can. Mayara, one of the island’s fearless oyster divers, has found happiness in love. But on the day of her wedding to the artist Kelo, a spirit-driven storm hits the island with deadly force. To save her loved ones, Mayara reveals a dangerous secret: she has the power to control the spirits. When the storm ends, she is taken into custody by the queen’s soldiers and imprisoned with other women like her. Whoever survives the Island of Testing will be declared heirs to the queen. But no matter if she wins or loses, Mayara knows that the life she dreamed of is gone.

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fantasy, Fiction

Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow,” but the spirits that reside within this land want to rid it of all humans. One woman stands between these malevolent spirits and the end of humankind: the queen. She alone has the magical power to prevent the spirits from destroying every man, woman, and child. Queens are still  only human, so young women are chosen to train as heirs. Daleina, a seemingly quiet academy student, simply wants to right the wrongs that have befallen the land. Ven, a disgraced champion, has spent his exile secretly fighting against the growing number of spirit attacks. Joining forces, these daring partners embark on a treacherous quest to find the source of the spirits’ restlessness.

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fantasy, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassible dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she's going to have to figure out just what she's missing --- and what she's running from --- before she can leave.

by Sarah Beth Durst - Fantasy, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassible dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she's going to have to figure out just what she's missing --- and what she's running from --- before she can leave.