Palimpsest (novel)

“...For grace may only be found briefly, and always in the midst of madness.”

“Thus it is that four strangers sit in the red chairs, strip off their socks, plunge their feet into the ink-baths, and hold hands under an amphibian stare. This is the first act of anyone entering Palimpsest: Orlande will take your coats, sit you down, and make you family. She will fold you four together like Quartos. She will draw you each a card — look, for you it is the Broken Ship reversed, which signifies Perversion, a Long Journey without Enlightenment, Gout — and tie your hands together with red yarn. Wherever you go in Palimpsest, you are bound to these strangers who happened onto Orlande’s salon just when you did, and you will go nowhere, eat no capon or dormouse, drink no oversweet port that they do not also taste, and they will visit no whore that you do not also feel beneath you, and until that ink washes from your feet—which, given that Orlande is a creature of the marsh and no stranger to mud, will be some time—you cannot breathe but that they breathe also.”

In another reality, there is a wonderful place full of living trains, anthropomorphic houses, talking animals, and every fantasy being imaginable. This land is Palimpsest, a strange place that humans can visit... but only after sleeping with someone who has part of a map of Palimpsest tattooed magically on their skin and only for one night at a time. Newcomers arrive in groups of four known as Quartos and while some love the country and wish to stay forever, none of the "immigrants" know for certain how to do that.

A Quartos consisting of Amaya Sei (a train-loving woman from Tokyo), November Aguilar (a beekeeper from California), Oleg Sadakov (a locksmith from New York City), and Ludovico Conti (a book binder from Rome) arrives in the city as the novel begins and the story follows their adventures in Palimpsest, delving into their lives in the real world, the people they seek, the things they lost, and the pursuit of what they love.

Palimpsest is a 2009 fantasy novel by Catherynne M. Valente.

Tropes used in Palimpsest (novel) include:

Adult Fear: Lyudmila died as a child, before Oleg was even born. What he thinks is his sister's spirit is just a hallucination from not taking his medication. Sei also experiences this near the end, when she realizes that she's pregnant. Her friend warns her that her baby will be a child of Palimpsest and it's better to have an abortion. The baby ends up becoming a train she conducts, but just before going to Palimpsest forever, she mentally apologizes and hopes it doesn't hurt when the baby transforms.
- Being in a strange land and being dragged out of a public place and murdered, with nobody caring because you're an immigrant. Such is the fate of anyone who crosses the Dvorniki, but it's also a chilling reality for immigrants in real life.
All Just a Dream: What Palimpsest is initially dismissed as, by most immigrants initially. Unfortunately subverted when it's revealed that injuries such as November's finger amputations carry over to the real world and people who die in Palimpsest remain dead in real life.
Artificial Human: Palimpsest has the ability to make copies of people, aware of what they are but still capable of acting like humans. Copies of Lyudmila and Lucia are made for Oleg and Ludovico respectively, the former to keep him company in Palimpsest and the latter to comfort Ludovico and assure him she loves him.
Bittersweet Ending: All of the leads reach Palimpsest and are implied to have happier lives their than in reality, but it comes at costs - Sei's baby is transformed into a train, November is mutilated still, Oleg has to face the reality that the Lyudmila he's with is not the "real" one (and that the one he thought he loved never existed at all), and Ludovico is rejected by Lucia.
Body Horror: Besides her fingers being cut off, November ends up with magical tattoos on her face, where they can't be hidden. By the end of the book, she has trouble finding a partner to take her to Palimpsest, since her appearance is rather unsettling. There's also the war veterans, who had to have amputated body parts replaced surgically with animal limbs.
Brother-Sister Incest: Heavily implied to be present in some form between Oleg and Lyudmila. It's mentioned that she became veyr upset and disappeared for some time when Oleg tried to get a girlfriend and they do kiss when they meet in Palimpsest.
Blue and Orange Morality: The people of Palimpsest operate under a different sense of morality than in real life. Casimira cuts off November's fingers as a means to help her move to Palimpsest permanently so they can be together forever, then only offers animal limbs as replacements, laughing when November asks if she can have human fingers to replace her own.
Crap Saccharine World: Palimpsest has all sorts of wonderful, beautiful things in it and many people feel like they belong there far more than they ever did in their own world. But it's also recovering from a devastating war and there's also a massive amount of Fantastic Racism towards immigrants, to the point where veterans of the aforementioned war will occasionally murder immigrants. As Nerezza notes, "It's wonderful there, in Palimpsest, but sometimes it's not very nice."
Creepy Child: According to Sei's friend, babies conceived through sex bringing people to Palimpsest are born covered with maps on their skin and the ability to talk. She had a child like that and was so terrified, she immediately gave him up for adoption.
Driven to Suicide: Sei's mother, Usagi, killed herself when Sei was a child. Sei found her when she was still dying, but couldn't bring herself to try to save her.
Electric Torture: It's mentioned at one point that Usagi underwent electroshock therapy because of her insanity.
Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: The priestess of the Dvorniki has a shark's head.
Fantastic Racism: The people of Palimpsest generally really don't care for immigrants. At best, they look down on them and consider their use of sex to cross over to be amusing. At worst, "street cleaners" will murder immigrants for the slightest reason (or, occasionally, no reason at all). They also refuse to tell immigrants how to permanently move to Palimpsest.
Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The land of Palimpsest contains dragons, moon rabbits, sentient locomotives, fortune-telling, Mix-and-Match Critters, and much, much more.
Fingore: Casimira cuts off November's fingers to impress upon her that this Palimpsest is not a dream.
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Even though Sei is given plenty of reasons why giving birth to a baby conceived through Palimpsest is not a good idea and she should have an abortion, she can't make up her mind on going through with it. She ends up not having one, and the baby transforms into a train when she immigrates permanently to Palimpsest.
Great Offscreen War: One frequently mentioned, fought over the issue of immigration and whether or not to open Palimpsest again. Because of it, people are able to reach Palimpsest again in their dreams and there are more than a few veterans of the way who show up.
Human Sacrifice: The Dvorniki will kill immigrants on a door-like alter, praying that immigrants will be unable to find their way to Palimpsest.
I Choose to Stay: Quite a few people who find Palimpsest want to stay there forever. The trouble is, nobody knows how to make the move permanent. November, Oleg, Ludovico, and Sei all manage it, although the latter two need a bit of time to decide.
Lonely Rich Kid: Casimira came from a prominent family, but was so lonely growing up that she started a war for the right to let immigrants return.
Meaningful Name: A palimpsest is a manuscript that has its original writing taken off for later writing, but still has traces of the original document. This applies to the land of Palimpsest itself (Casimira's war was held to eradicate the anti-immigration policy and succeeded in changing it, but the negative views towards immigrants remained) as well as towards all the characters who visit, using it as a way to start over while still dealing with the lingering effects of their pasts.
- Casimira means is a feminine version of "Casimir", which is translated either as "someone who destroys opponent's prestige/glory during battle" or "the one who reveals or establishes peace". Casimira went to war against those who supported the anti-immigration policies, winning the right for immigrants to return and allowed Palimpsest to continue to grow.
My God, What Have I Done?: Oleg's reaction when he realizes just how terribly he'd treated the duplicate Lyudmila.
Reality Ensues: Sei has to sleep around constantly to follow the train she's riding in Palimpsest. She ends up pregnant by the end of the novel.
Single-Target Sexuality Oleg is only interested in the spirit of his sister, Lyudmila. It's mentioned that he briefly had a girlfriend who was actually a living person and not related to him, but it was unsatisfying. Ludovico is only shown to be interested in his wife. When they meet again near the end of the story, he makes it clear that anyone he slept with was only to get to Palimpsest and meant nothing to him and he was willing to abandon his life in the real world if she wanted to live together in Palimpsest.
The Reveal: Palimpsest is a sentient entity and actually wants immigrants to return.
Teens Are Monsters: Played with. Casimira was a teenager when she launched a massive war. While the war had far-reaching consequences and cost many lives, it's treated as the end result (immigrants returning to Palimpsest) was ultimately in the land's best interest.

"Do you know what a thirteen-year-old girl can do when she is alone and frightened and believes she is right?

Tongue Trauma: In order to protect himself and Oleg from being killed by the Dvorniki, Ludovico lets them cut his tongue out to silence him.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Even though the version of Lyudmila created by Palimpsest is the same as the hallucination of Lyudmila that Oleg has been living with for years, Oleg is furious with her and chases her away when he finds out the truth. He later is ashamed of his behavior and tells Ludovico that just because she was an Artificial Human didn't mean he had the right to speak to her like that.
0% Approval Rating: How Casimira's immigration policy was met. She ended up having to start a war to get it put through. The end of the book does reveal that she won because she had the support of possibly the most powerful supporter - the country of Palimpsest itself.