Synopses & Reviews
“Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”
On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.
On the inside, within the walls of the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom.
Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries . . .
What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve — in this life or in another one?
In prose that sings from line to line,Nova Ren Suma tells a supernatural tale of guilt and of innocence, and of what happens when one is mistaken for the other.
“A suspenseful tour de force, a ghost story of the best sort, the kind that creeps into your soul and haunts you.” —Libba Bray, author of The Diviners and A Great and Terrible Beauty
Review
"[A] haunting and evocative tale....Suma's unflinchingly honest depiction of the potentially destructive force of female friendship...is reminiscent of Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls, and the eerie mood she evokes is unnervingly potent." School Library Journal (Starred Review)
Review
"Readers who loved the author's spooky but redemptive 17 & Gone and who are looking for something a little more vengeful will curl up happily with this." BCCB (Starred Review)
Review
"[L]yrical, authoritative prose... [a] spellbinding narrative that explores guilt, privilege, and complicity with fearless acuity....The twisting, ghostly tale of Ori's life, death, and redemption is unsettling and entirely engrossing." The Horn Book Magaine (Starred Review)
Review
"Suma excels in creating surreal unsettling stories with vivid language, and this psychological thriller is no exception....A fabulous, frightening read." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"[T]ouched at first with the slimmest twist of an otherworldly creepiness, escalating finally to the truly hair-raising and macabre. Eerie, painful and beautifully spine-chilling." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
About the Author
Nova Ren Suma has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and a BA in writing and photography from Antioch College and has been awarded a fiction fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is the author of Imaginary Girls, Fade Out, and 17 & Gone. She lives in New York City. Find Nova online at novaren.com or follow her on Twitter at @novaren.