A Story of Love--And Death

Keturah and Lord Death is a book that I read in middle school, then promptly forgot the title of.  Or rather, I forgot the "Keturah" part and remembered the rest.  I also remembered the story, because it is a beautiful one.  It's a mixture of Scheherazade and the Arabian Nights and the myth of Hades and Persephone.

Keturah is a village girl who follows the great hart and gets lost in the forest.  There she runs into Lord Death, and in exchange for one more day of life to marry her true love, if she can find him, she tells him a story but withholds the ending.  Intrigued by the story and that the girl will not trade her life for another's, Lord Death agrees.  In her bargaining, Keturah learns that plague is coming.  When the Lord of her town learns that the king is coming, Keturah comes up with a plan to help save her village.  She convinces the Lord, Temsland, and his son John that the king will think that Tide-by-Rood is the best town in the country if they clean it up and pave the streets.  They agree.  On the first day, Keturah sets in motion a way to save her village from plague, but does not marry her true love.  That night, she spins a new tale, but again withholds the ending.  And so goes on for two more nights, with Keturah asking larger and larger favors until she gets death to agree to save her village.  And in return, she falls in love with death and agrees to be his wife.

I've given away the end--oh no!  But if you know the myth of Persephone, you knew that was coming.  I've loved this story for years, partially because I love that myth.  I also love it because Martine Leavitt writes a believable story, for all it's fantasy elements.  Love is not instant, nor does one recognize it right away.  No matter how you want someone to be your one true love, you have to accept sometimes that they aren't.  Keturah's journey and the reactions of her town to different parts of her story feel true.  The time period the book takes place in is also very short, and yet, the story doesn't feel rushed.  It's just the right length, and, even in death, you will smile at the end.