The Constellation of Forgotten Things
A Grief Memoir in Fairy Tales
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Pub Date Sep 15 2026 | Archive Date Sep 12 2026
ARC provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op | Glass Bottle Press
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Description
A grief memoir in fairy tales—The Everlasting meets When Breath Becomes Air
In these tales, love transcends every boundary—death, memory, time itself. A ship captain exchanges letters with a mysterious island dweller through glass bottles that always find their way to each other. Memory Keepers and creatures of the Void discover forbidden love across cosmic divides. A blacksmith's boy and a village girl are torn apart by revolution, their bond tested by violence and forgetting. A ghost mother watches over her disabled daughter.
From celestial beings navigating eternal duties to mortals seeking connection across impossible distances, these stories explore love in all its forms—queer and straight, mortal and divine, tender and tragic. Each story is a doorway into worlds where devotion defies fate, where souls find each other across lifetimes, and where even the most broken hearts continue to beat with hope.
Perfect for readers who love the lyricism of Madeline Miller and Alix E. Harrow, the emotional storytelling of Studio Ghibli films, and the mythic beauty of Ursula K. Le Guin's work. If you read for gorgeous language and deep feeling rather than fast plots—these stories will captivate you.
Advance Praise
"The Constellation of Forgotten Things feels like a mythical text that has existed for centuries — something unearthed rather than written. I was captivated by the relationships between souls, and deeply moved by the larger story that frames the book at its beginning and end. Tiffany and her son, Renley Nicolas Chu, have created a singularly beautiful jewel of a book."
—Esmé Weijun Wang, The New York Times bestselling author of The Collected Schizophrenias
"THE CONSTELLATION OF FORGOTTEN THINGS is a candid and compelling exploration of the human condition. Through a distinctive lens, this anthology closely examines different embodiments of kinship, the diverse nuances of loss, and the enduring depths of love. A resonant letter to those seeking home."
—Joanne Yi, author of All the Tomorrows After
"The Constellation of Forgotten Things is one of the most tender books I’ve read in years, an anthology shimmering with grief, longing, imagination, and the unbearable human desire to be remembered. Through stories that feel at once mythic and deeply personal, Tiffany Chu and Renley create something far larger than a collection: a living conversation about love, memory, disability, belonging, and what it means to leave pieces of ourselves glowing inside one another long after death. This book does not simply mourn a life. It continues one."
—Kimberly Warner, author of Unfixed, a Publisher’s Weekly Editor’s Pick
"Taken together, these short stories form a central theme that when a connection is forged deeply enough, it can defy distance, time, and nature itself [...] A fated grief memoir told in heartrending fairy tales, The Constellation of Forgotten Things is the ultimate tribute, an enduring gift of love carried forward."
—Indies Today
"THE CONSTELLATION OF FORGOTTEN THINGS is a tender collision of melancholy and hope, a heartache in words, filled with tales of forlorn travelers, wayfinding, and journeys unrealized. At its core, this anthology explores the true magic in the connections made between people, the way the stories we write hold shards of our souls laid bare so we may be seen, heard, felt, how stories may change when passed between the remembered and the rememberer, and how they are continued."
—Ai Jiang, Hugo Award-nominated author of Linghun
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9798993753102 |
| PRICE | |
| PAGES | 386 |
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Featured Reviews
✨4.5 Stars✨
Wow! This anthology is so sorrowfully beautiful!
The Constellation of Forgotten Things is filled with short poetic tales that are overflowing with meaning and emotion in each one.
I love that each short story is interconnected, but can also be read as a standalone. Furthermore, each is followed my an explanation from Tiffany that brings further insight into Ren’s feelings behind the story and how the story was created.
Reading through each story brings deeper meaning to grief and painful times, as well emphasizes how incredibly important relationship are.
Combining these deep stories with perspective from the authors is an impactful exploration of who the writers are and allows us as readers to contemplate these topics in our own lives.
One of the authors, Ren tragically suffered damage to his vocal cords in a house fire when he was young. As a result he lost his ability to speak.
“He has no words to speak with, yet here his words will live on forever and leave his mark upon the world”
Thankful that he has given the world the gift of his beautiful writing.
I encourage everyone to read this book and ponder on their own life and Ren and Tiffany’s purpose as they wrote this anthology.
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