PEAK

Leila is a lovesick flower, a lily of the valley, a young woman who unwittingly blossoms through the events of this night. Stirred by her passionate desire to reunite with her love, Leila embarks on a treacherous journey filled with an otherworldly villain who relentlessly pursues her, her own rambling thoughts that both torture and encourage her, and sublime apparitions of her love that only temporarily satisfy her longing. But after the night's end, Leila will discover a magnificent new reality, one her anxious mind could never have imagined. She will learn the real identity of her love while tasting the surprising sweetness of a new, higher love.

PEAK is a poetic novel, set in the thick of winter, told through a love-struck young woman seeking to find her love who seemingly vanished after eight years together. St. Claire's writing is rife with beautiful descriptions and free-flowing movement of the protagonist through various scenes, such as a wintered forest, a frozen river, and an enchanted boardwalk.

This fantasy fiction serves as a meditation on the Song of Solomon, a book in the Christian bible. As the scriptural Beloved sings of her love for the Lover no matter his whereabouts or her journeys to search and find him, PEAK's Leila sings just as sweetly for her love. Yet in Leila's journey, she attains many virtues in her nightly trek, all of which enable her to mature, to understand her love's words, and to finally see him as he is.