Rose Szabo's thrilling debut is a dark and thrilling novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls.
Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.
Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together — in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.
Exquisitely terrifying, beautiful, and strange, this fierce gothic fantasy will sink its teeth into you and never let go.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 2, 2021 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250780430
- File size: 350317 KB
- Duration: 12:09:49
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 660
- Text Difficulty: 3
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Reviews
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December 14, 2020
Comparable to The Hazel Wood, Szabo’s uneven debut features a pitch-black fairy tale atmosphere and rich, mid-century gothic descriptions. Returning home to Maine after a violent incident at her boarding school, Eleanor Zarrin reunites with a family unlike any other. With a mother who is half woman, half marine life; several werewolf-shapeshifting relatives; and Grandmother Persephone, who can see the future, Eleanor is not sure how she fits in or why she was sent away for eight years. When her grandmother dies, first instructing Eleanor to care for and protect the family, the girl uncovers long-buried secrets and calls on her maternal French grandmother for help. But Grand-
mere’s incredible powers threaten them all, and Eleanor must decide whether to defend the family who abandoned her or become the creature her Grandmere insists she is inside. Fragmented worldbuilding leads to labored plotting, yet Szabo introduces an intriguing cast of characters—particularly Arthur, a vampirish family guest and paramour to many—alongside meaningful explorations of identity and belonging. Ages 14–up. (Feb.)■ -
Magic and monsters abound in the story of Eleanor Zarrin, a girl who is forced to return to her fierce and--until recently--estranged family. Narrator Jasika Nicole's cool voice transforms subtly into the various characters, who range from young Eleanor to her more confident family members. Nicole's shifts from character to character are good, and her pacing is pleasant. Spanning from light but not hurried passages to slow but not dragging ones, she injects her voice with an edge of mystery at just the right moments to highlight the peculiar plot Szabo has concocted in this debut novel. E.J.S. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
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