ORKNEY ISLANDS, 1797 - Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant.
When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow? Her curiosity is soon replaced with vexation when her husband hires her out as cook and washerwoman, leaving Agnes with no say in the matter. Agnes begrudgingly befriends this aristocrat-in-exile; a mercurial scientist who toils night and day on some secret pursuit. Despite herself, she's drawn to his dark, brooding charm. And who is this Byronic stranger sweeping Agnes off her feet? His name is Frankenstein and he's come to this remote isle to fulfill a monstrous obligation.
Death has come to town.
New England, 1821-Hester Stokely, an orphan with unusual abilities, struggles to find her place in the pious town of Wickstead. A house-servant in the employ of her uncle's upright family, Hester is treated as little more than a pariah by the judgmental townsfolk.
When a deadly plague comes to town, Hester becomes indispensable as a healer. Yet as Hester watches the town's residents rapidly fall ill, she realizes that something more dangerous than disease has come to Wickstead.
Soon the buried dead are exhumed on rumor of superstition, and occult fires burn fiercely into the night. As the townspeople turn on each other, a mysterious traveler arrives, furthering the growing paranoia.
Hester must confront the dark forces which have invaded Wickstead, or all who live there may be lost... their souls included.
ORKNEY ISLANDS, 1797 - Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant.
When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow? Her curiosity is soon replaced with vexation when her husband hires her out as cook and washerwoman, leaving Agnes with no say in the matter. Agnes begrudgingly befriends this aristocrat-in-exile; a mercurial scientist who toils night and day on some secret pursuit. Despite herself, she's drawn to his dark, brooding charm. And who is this Byronic stranger sweeping Agnes off her feet? His name is Frankenstein and he's come to this remote isle to fulfill a monstrous obligation.
What happens when you fall for the girl everyone hates?
Summer 1987: Mark Prewitt's only priority is to avoid his dad's new wife and waste time with his friends, but idle nights are the devil's playground. When his friends decide to pull a cruel prank on the reclusive and strange Farrow sisters, Mark regrets caving in to peer pressure.
Wanting to make amends, Mark is drawn into the mysterious world of the Farrow girls, finding a kindred spirit in the middle sister, George. She is unlike anyone he's ever known; a practicing witch who uses folk magic to protect her family. They bond over books, loneliness, and homemade spells. She even invites Mark to join a séance to contact her dead sister, who died under mysterious circumstances.
Keeping their relationship secret, Mark learns that living a double life in a town this small is impossible. When the secret is exposed, and his friends plot to punish the witch sisters for stealing one of their own, Mark is forced to choose between these two worlds.
Filled with evocative and captivating scenes, strong female characters, and an engaging narration, readers will become engrossed immediately, while the threat and fear at the heart of this story, satisfyingly, sneaks up on them. -Booklist, starred
Shirley Jackson Award Nominee for Best Novella, 2022!
In the chapel of a forsaken fishing village on another world's shore, the seawashed bones of old gods hang from the rafters.
When a new god drifts into the bay, the menfolk fear nothing as they reach for their spears; but capturing Her may be their last act of reckless bravado. Her very presence brings dissent and madness. Her voice threatens to tear the starving, angry community apart.
Setting a siege of relentless horror against the backdrop of brine and blood, Lure blurs the line between natural disaster and self-destruction.
Interior illustrations by Kelly Williams; cover art by Matt Blairstone.
What happens when you fall for the girl everyone hates?
Summer 1987: Mark Prewitt's only priority is to avoid his dad's new wife and waste time with his friends, but idle nights are the devil's playground. When his friends decide to pull a cruel prank on the reclusive and strange Farrow sisters, Mark regrets caving in to peer pressure.
Wanting to make amends, Mark is drawn into the mysterious world of the Farrow girls, finding a kindred spirit in the middle sister, George. She is unlike anyone he's ever known; a practicing witch who uses folk magic to protect her family. They bond over books, loneliness, and homemade spells. She even invites Mark to join a séance to contact her dead sister, who died under mysterious circumstances.
Keeping their relationship secret, Mark learns that living a double life in a town this small is impossible. When the secret is exposed, and his friends plot to punish the witch sisters for stealing one of their own, Mark is forced to choose between these two worlds.
Filled with evocative and captivating scenes, strong female characters, and an engaging narration, readers will become engrossed immediately, while the threat and fear at the heart of this story, satisfyingly, sneaks up on them. -Booklist, starred
Struggling to balance an unstable music career with her obligations as a wife and mom, Tilda Parish's life becomes complicated by the mysterious return of an old boyfriend. One who died almost twenty years ago...
At 24, Tilda Parish had it all; her own band and a man she knew was 'the one' but fate had other plans. A fatal car crash took her boyfriend's life and sent Tilda into a spiral of grief.
Seventeen years later, Tilda is married with a 13-year old daughter but her career as a singer-songwriter has been turbulent and unstable. Unable to balance her volatile career with her obligations to her family, Tilda makes a life-changing decision to walk away from music forever. Yet, after burning her guitar in a ritual bonfire, Tilda discovers that the past isn't done with her. Hints of her old life pop up mysteriously and ghosts of her past haunt her present.
Alone one night, Tilda confronts an intruder she believes to be a stalker but the figure that steps from the shadows almost stops her heart. Her old beau appears, the one who died all those years ago.
He hasn't aged a day. He says that he never stopped loving her and that he wants her back. Despite his death and the intervening seventeen years, Tilda realizes that she never stopped loving him either.
And now Tilda Parish is caught between two worlds; the everyday world of her husband and family and this new spooky world of an old lover who has returned from the shadow of death to find her.
What's an ex-musician to do?