Lute

Lute is an island where every seventh summer, on a day called the tithe, seven people die. No more and no fewer. In between, the islanders enjoy good weather, good health and good fortune, and they live untouched by the war raging around them.

Nina Treadway is new to the day. She was born in Florida and became a Lady by marrying Lord Treadway, whose family has long protected the island. She has heard about the deaths and the tragedies, but she takes it all for superstition, tales told to keep newcomers away and the young obedient.

Then the day begins, and Nina has to live through it. It brings nightmares, grief and a reckoning, and it also brings the islanders together, in survival, in strength and in love.

This is folk horror, atmospheric and unsettling, with a premise that pairs the island-cult dread of The Wicker Man with the inevitable, mounting deaths of Final Destination. The pull between duty and love, and between the individual and the community, drives the story. The dread builds around a fixed date, and the book follows a single day in which Nina and Lute are changed for good.