by Graham Joyce
First published 1997
Sam runs with his gang through the edges of their factory town, testing boundaries and dodging adult authority. They claim the industrial wasteland as their territory, free to explore and cause trouble. Then Sam wakes one morning to find the tooth fairy perched beside him on his bed. This creature bears no resemblance to the gentle sprite of children's stories. Instead, it presents itself as a mysterious and unsettling force that both attracts and frightens him. The fairy's presence marks the beginning of a transformation that will reshape everything Sam understands about himself and his world. As this strange relationship develops, Sam finds himself caught between the familiar chaos of boyhood friendship and the pull of something far more complex and dangerous. The tooth fairy becomes both his tormentor and his guide, leading him away from the simple certainties of childhood toward a future he cannot predict or control.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, fantasy, supernatural
Vibes: dark, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, supernatural-guide, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Factory Town
Period: 20th-century
320 pages · Hardcover · Tor Books