Moonstone Covenant

Jill Hammer is a celebrated author, scholar, rabbi, ritualist, poet, and dreamworker. The Moonstone Covenant is her first published work of fantasy fiction, but she has been reading and writing fantasy since she was young. Like some of her characters, she has a deep love of books, trees, enchanted castles, and mysterious alleyways. She is the author of eight other books, including works of fiction, poetry, and feminist theological scholarship. She lives with her family in Manhattan, where she spends a great deal of time in Central Park.

"The Moonstone Covenant is a many-layered feat of the imagination, gathering the stories of four very different women who share a marriage—as difficult a feat in their world as it would be in ours—and spinning them through the traumas of a world on the edge of chaos, a place where magic is core to the lives of the women who wield it, but is loathed and feared by those who surround them. Each wife's viewpoint, her unique voice, opens up the weave of this world, leading us by the hand into a magical and spiritual system deeply embedded in the earth: trees speak here, and have opinions that can change the way the world works.In lyrical and beautiful language, Jill Hammer lays bare the prejudices of an island landscape where the waterways are as important as highways. Through the tale of a four-way marriage, she carries us into the depths of relationships between women, the flows of feeling and passion, history and trust, treachery both imagined and real. Betrayal lies at the heart of this story, but its healing is a thread running through from the start. A genuinely engaging, enlivening, and inspiring read!"—Manda Scott, author of Any Human Power and host of the Accidental Gods podcast"Part murder mystery, part political thriller, part fantasy epic, The Moonstone Covenant celebrates the power and wisdom of books, the natural world, and queer love. This wondrous novel is a gift of imagination for readers everywhere."—Jonathan Vatner, author of Carnegie Hill and The Bridesmaids' Union"Like Tolkien and Le Guin, Jill Hammer has conjured up a richly detailed world, alive with magic, political intrigue, and a robust cast of fascinating characters. Readers of fantasy will love this book!"—Ellen Frankel, author of The Deadly Scrolls"In the romance-laden, mysterious fantasy novel The Moonstone Covenant, a women quartet's collective gifts alter their homeland's future."—Foreword Reviews"Set in an archipelago, a land of boats and bridges, Moonstone, the backdrop for Jill Hammer's debut novel, is a nation so devoted to books and knowledge, it's like a university that morphed into a city-state. As its national focus on books along might suggest, this is a kind of Jewish Narnia."—Mildred Faintly, Jewish Women's Archive" Jill Hammer's first fantasy novel offers beautifully detailed worldbuilding and, like Le Guin's work, is underpinned by themes of gender, sexuality, prejudice, and politics."—Dr. Zoe L. Tongue, Ancillary Review of Books