by Stephen King
First published 2017
Twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson climbs the Suicide Stairs every summer day in 1974. The iron-bolted steps zigzag up the cliffside from Castle Rock, Maine to Castle View, where she catches her breath and listens to kids playing below. The aluminum bat clinks as Senior League players practice for their Labor Day charity game. Then one day a stranger in black calls out to her from a shaded bench. He wears black jeans, a black suit coat, and a white shirt with the top button undone. A small black hat sits on his head. "Hey, girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me," he says. This meeting will give Gwendy nightmares about that hat for years to come. Castle Rock has seen strange events and unusual visitors before, but this story has never been told until now. The encounter will change everything for Gwendy in ways she cannot imagine.
Genres: mystery, fantasy, horror, contemporary
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: chosen-one, dark-secrets, found-family
Setting: Castle Rock, Castle View, Maine
Period: 1974
171 pages · Hardcover · Cemetery Dance Publications
Content warnings: anxiety, depression