Radiant Darkness

Radiant Darkness
by Emily Whitman

He smiles, "Hello."

It's a deep voice. I can feel it reverberate in my chest and echo all the way down to my toes.

I know I should leave, but I don't want to. I want to keep my senses like this forever. I'm all eye, all ear, all skin.

Persephone lives in the most gorgeous place in the world. But her mother's a goddess, as overprotective as she is powerful. Paradise has become a trap. Just when Persephone feels there's no chance of escaping the life that's been planned for her, a mysterious stranger arrives. A stranger who promises something more - something dangerous and exciting - something that stirs Persephone to make a daring choice. A choice that could destroy all she's come to love, even the earth itself.

In a land where a singing river can make you forget your very name, Persephone is forced to discover who - and what - she really is.

I loved this book. Whitman takes readers on a journey to experience the classic mythological story of Persephone and Hades from a whole new perspective. Here Persephone is an unsatisfied young woman who yearns to connect with another and when she meets Hades, they fall passionately in love. She chooses to run away and become his bride, and is forced to leave him six months a year so that her mother, the goddess Demeter, does not destroy the earth trying to reclaim her "lost" daughter. This was an extremely well-written version of an old story, newly embued with passion, fantastic scene settings, and a clever new outlook.