by Jandy Nelson
First published 2024
Twelve-year-old Dizzy Fall bakes cakes and sees spirits in the scorching wine country of Northern California. Her older brothers Miles and Wynton struggle with their own demons. Miles, seventeen and brilliant, searches for love while wrestling with his identity. Wynton, nineteen, plays violin with fierce talent but heads toward destruction. Years have passed since their father vanished without explanation, leaving their family shattered. The devil winds still blow through the vineyards, and the Fall children still wait for answers. Then a mysterious girl with rainbow hair arrives and changes everything. She connects to each sibling in ways they cannot understand. Before they can discover who she really is, disaster strikes again. The family faces new fractures that threaten to break them completely. The Falls must confront their complicated history, the stories passed down through generations, and the curses that seem to follow them. Only by facing their past can they hope to heal their present wounds and build a different future together.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, magical-realism, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Northern California, Wine Country
Period: Contemporary
519 pages · Hardcover · Dial Books
Content warnings: mental-illness