Palimpsest
core novel 2009 Palimpsest
Record
| First published | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.65 (5,312 ratings, collected 2026-11-01) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780553385762 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Palimpsest is a city that exists between life and death, and it can be reached only in dreams. A person enters it after a single night that comes through intimate contact with someone who has already been there, and wakes with a tattoo of a piece of the city's map on their skin. Four people carry such marks: Oleg, a New York locksmith, November, a beekeeper, Ludovico, a rare-book binder, and Sei, a young woman from Japan. Each has lost something important, whether a person, a sense of direction or a place in the world. The city offers ghost trains, lion-priests, living characters of written script and canals filled with cream. All four want to stay for good, but to do so they must first find one another in the waking world and follow the map their bodies share.
Where it sits
- Universe: Palimpsest
- Series: Palimpsest core; position 1 of 1 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Awards (verified)
- Lambda Literary Award (Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror), 2010: won
- Hugo Award (Novel), 2010: finalist
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2010: finalist
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 2010: finalist
Notes
- From the series record (Palimpsest): A standalone novel about a dream city reached through intimate contact.
Sources
← Palimpsest dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.