THE BLUE QUEEN

In Piper’s novel, a Texas woman finds a rare salamander that gives the gift of eternal life.

Juliet Andro unhappily works as a nurse at Heaven Haven, a health retreat near Austin on land that her family has owned for generations. She’d rather do almost anything else and would dearly love to use her degree in avionics engineering, but the family expects her to work for several years as a nurse at the spa. While out walking the property, she finds a mysterious cave that she feels is alive (“She felt as though she was shrinking inside the guts of a living stone creature, a creature she had disturbed by her intrusion”). Juliet notices a faint blue light coming from a pool of salamanders. Oddly, they are luminescent, and there is a queen perched on a rock ledge that has a bump behind a sort of amphibian horn. She touches it and finds that the bump secretes a strong hallucinogen. Later visits to the cave prove more dramatic and curious: The queen pierces the body of another salamander, transfers its immortal powers to that creature, and dies, leaving only one queen. Juliet figures the substance can be harnessed and marketed as a fountain of youth drug, but she must protect the source. And will this even work on humans in addition to salamanders? The discovery is amazing, but Juliet knows it has the potential to destroy her family and everyone around her. Piper’s intriguing premise strictly follows its own sound logic and captures the imagination. The narrative stays grounded by the frequent references to family politics (Texas-style and otherwise), concerns about career goals, and difficult or stunted relationships. Perhaps it’s inevitable that a monumental discovery like the blue queen comes with the potential to ruin everything, but this novel’s multigenerational take on the fountain of youth elixir is exciting to read.

An enticing story about a family and immortality that blends robust storytelling and magical realism.