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A Letter to the Luminous Deep: A Novel (The Sunken Archive, 1)

Sylvie Cathrall

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An Amazon Best Book of April 2024 • An IndieNext Pick.

A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries and The House in the Cerulean Sea.

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other. Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.'s home, and she and Henerey vanish.

A year later, E.'s sister Sophy, and Henerey's brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery, piecing together the letters, sketches and field notes left behind—and learn what their siblings’ disappearance might mean for life as they know it. Inspired, immersive, and full of heart, this charming epistolary tale is an adventure into the depths of a magical sea and the limits of the imagination from a marvelous debut voice.

Praise for A Letter to the Luminous Deep:

“An underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I adore.” —Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light.

“A shimmering, delicately crafted delight.” —H.G. Parry, author of The Magician's Daughter.

“A fascinating and charming story told in a uniquely elegant voice.” —Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches.

“Both the setting and the story are exquisite.” —Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.

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Posts about this title from Not So Well Read

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Apr 2 2025

Academic Fantasy Book Recs!

It’s no secret that I love academic fantasy books, so after finding Blood Over Bright Haven I couldn’t help but revisit some of my favorites in the genre.

From magic school concepts to post-graduate research these scholarly fantasy books have the perfect #darkacademia or #lightacademia vibes.

Also, there are definitely at least 20 more books in this category, but these are some of the ones that I’ve loved enough to keep physical copies of ✨

#darkacademiabooks #lightacademiabooks #magicschool #fantasybookstagram #fantasybookrecs

11 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Nov 1 2024

Under-the-Radar Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books

Fantasy/sci-fi is one of the quickest moving genres, but I do feel like a lot of new releases get buried under the same few titles.

Here are five sci-fi/fantasy books of 2024 that I feel need more attention.

✨ A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall ✨ Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova ✨ The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song ✨ Snowglobe by Soyoung Park ✨ Ocean’s Godori by Elaine U. Cho

#booktok #booktoker #bookvlog #scifibooks #fantasybook

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Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Jun 8 2024

Life Update + Belated May Wrap Up

The end of May kicked my ass and wrecked my TBR plans...

10 books

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Apr 11 2024

A Letter to the Luminous Deep

And you found it!

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is an epistolary, academic fantasy that utterly delightful. It’s got the romance and longing for Divine Rivals with the charm and curiosity of Emily Wilde. I can’t wait for it to finally be on shelves so it can get all the love it deserves.

Out 4.23.24!

#bookrecommendations #newbookalert #debutbook #fantasybooks #cozyfantasy

1 book

Not So Well Read\ \ Courtney\ \ • Mar 31 2024

April Most Anticipated

As we look towards April, I wanted to highlight some of my most anticipated releases for April 2024! Some of these I’ve read already and loved, some of these I’m dying to get my hands on.

What books are you looking forward to this month?

12 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Ladybug Books\ \ Samantha\ \ • Nov 9 2025

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[Hello friends, and welcome back to my weekly newsletter! This week has been a very good reading week! I finished an exciting new release and discovered a new audiobook obsession. Read to the end to see what other books I think are even better to read via audiobook. \ \

- *\ \ Reading Updates Paperback | Finished: To Bargain with Mortals \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨\ \ Thoughts: To Bargain with Mortals is an excellent start to a new fantasy series! Basu delivers a compelling twist on familiar fantasy story elements. I really loved the depth and complexity given to each of the characters. Poppy, in particular, was really forced to confront her biases and privilege. This book has so much to say about identity, family, culture, and community. I am incredibly excited to see where the story goes in the sequel. The characters are in a very precarious position and I am sure the next book will be filled with tension, betrayal, and scheming. \ \ Audiobook | Finished: Ancillary Justice \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨\ \ Thoughts: I absolutely see why this is such a beloved SciFi series. Ancillary Justice captures a lot of the things that I love to read about in SciFi. Interesting depth to unique characters, large scale politics, scheming, and fascinating world building. There is definitely a lot of setup in this first book, but I found myself so interested in all of the details. I particularly loved the attention to linguistic features. This is a surprisingly excellent audiobook read as well! The narrators performance is exceptional and I think it really helped compensate for some of the slower moments in the book. \ \ Audiobook | Finished: Ancillary Sword \ \ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\ \ Thoughts: Look at me actually reading a series back to back! I haven't been this obsessed with an audiobook series since Murderbot. This second book features a shift to a seemingly random station that serves as a marked example of flaws and weaknesses that have been plaguing the Radch empire. I really enjoyed watching Breq manuever through the complex politics of this situation. You can really feel both her grief and her simmering rage in her narration and actions. I am obsessed with both Breq and Seivardan. I also loved the occasional moments of humor and banter in this one. I cannot wait to finish up the trilogy and then explore the other books in the Imperial Radch world. \ \ Ebook | Currently Reading: The Sacred Space Between \ \ Progress: 10%\ \ Thoughts: I got a little distracted by the Imperial Radch trilogy this week so I'm still at the very beginning of The Sacred Space Between. I am incredibly intrigued by the mysterious magic that has been hinted at so far as well as the dark truths of the church. I have heard nothing but glowing praise for the romance in this book and I cannot wait to continue!\ \
- *\ \ Future Reading Plans \ \ To be honest, nothing has really changed with my future reading plans. The Everlasting, Kill The Beast, and The Isle in the Silver Sea remain at the top of my TBR. Of course Ancillary Mercy will be the next book I pick up. \ \
- *\ \ Book Recommendations \ \ I read a lot of audiobooks and there are definitely some types of books that I prefer to read via audio. Sometimes the audiobook performance really enhances the reading experience. Here a few books that I think are even better to read via aubio. \ \ \ \ The Murderbot Diaries: This is absolutely the shining example of a series that is even better via aubiobook. This series follows Murderbot, a SecUnit that has hacked itself into sentience and now has anxiety. It just wants to be left alone, but when one of the groups of humans it is in charge of protecting finds themselves in unexpected danger, Murderbot gets wrapped up in galactic plots and conspiracies. Kevin R Free's performance adds so much to the reading experience. His voices for both Murderbot and ART are absolutely perfect. The Network Effect audiobook has become a comfort read for me. I started the series reading it on my Kindle but once I experienced the audiobook I couldn't go back. \ \ \ \ A Letter to the Luminous Deep: A Letter to the Luminous Deep is an epistolary story told through letters between missing scholars, recovered documents, and messages between the scholars' siblings. This is an enchanting epistolary story that slowly reveals its secrets. More than just a romantic tale between scholars, this story explores a range of emotional character relationships. I was particularly moved by the siblings journey bonding over the grief and the mysterious, sudden loss of their siblings. The full cast audiobook adds vivid personality to the various characters whose letters make up the book.\ \ \ \ Book Lovers: Romance is one of those genres that I love to read via audiobook and Julia Whelan is one of my favorite audiobook narrators. Big city literary agent, Nora, travels to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for a girls trip with her younger sister. While there she keeps running into Charlie Lasta, a cuthroat book editor that she has had quite a few unpleasant interactions with in the past. But sparks fly in this small town, dislike-to-like romance. As someone who cannot stand when high-powered, badass city women in Hallmark movies give it all up to move to a small town to be someone's wife, this book spoke to my soul. I literally listened to this audiobook in one sitting. The banter was incredible and some of Charlie's one-liners had me squealing! I highly recommend any of Emily Henry's books via audiobook\ \ Join for free or login](https://ladybug-books.binderybooks.com/item/r4EKvZmReJoCQUg998tg/)

Ladybug.books Newsletter (11/2/25 - 11/8/25)

7 books

The Bibliothecary\ \ Samantha\ \ • Sep 13 2025

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what I read this summer

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