Part of Wayward Children
First published 2016
Nancy has returned from a magical underworld where she danced with Death and found perfect stillness. Now she lives at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, a boarding school for kids who traveled to fantasy realms and came back changed. The other students understand what Nancy experienced. They all yearn to return to their own magical worlds. Jack and Jill went to a vampire's castle. Kade ruled as a goblin prince. Christopher played bone flutes in a skeletal underworld. Each student hopes their doorway will reopen. When Nancy arrives, violence erupts at the school. Students start dying in brutal ways. Nancy teams up with her new friends to solve the murders before more blood spills. The investigation forces them to confront hard truths about their magical journeys and what they lost when they returned home.
Genres: coming-of-age, mystery, fantasy, young-adult, boarding-school, dark-fantasy
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, eerie, introspective, melancholic, suspenseful
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water, found-family, murder-mystery
Setting: Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, magical underworld, vampire's castle
173 pages · Hardcover · Tor.com
Content warnings: death, murder, violence