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by Nino Cipri
There are rules for Voynich Woods: Always carry a whistle. Never go alone. Always come home before dark. And if anyone calls your name, don't answer. Because everyone who wanders from the path is never seen again.
Except for Riley Walcott.
Riley knows better than to stray from the trail in the woods behind her uncle Toby's house. But her little sister Sam breaks the rules in pursuit of a local legend, so Riley chases after her and discovers a knife-wielding figure and a waiting grave.
Madelyn lives deep in the forest. Subject to her mother's strict rules, she's forbidden from leaving home or using her magic―but one night, she risks everything to help a stranger who's lost in the woods.
Riley is murdered in a strange ritual, Madelyn uses her magic to resurrect her, and their lives are immediately entwined in the gnarled history of Voynich Woods. Riley, who feels trapped in her small town but too afraid to leave, was never a believer, but now the evidence is taking root under her skin. Madelyn has the scars to prove how terrible magic can be, and longs for a life beyond her mother's grasp. As the legends become all too real, Riley and Madelyn must confront their deepest fears to uncover the truth about Voynich Woods.
At once tender, violent, and thrilling, Dead Girls Don't Dream is a novel of recovery, healing, and finding your power.
"A coming-of-age tale that's dripping with dark magic." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Crackles with righteous rage. A brutal modern fairy tale." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"As twisting and haunting as a gnarled old tree, this queer coming-of-age novel is chock-full of body horror, monsters, strange magic, and a mythos so strong it bursts through the pages." ―Booklist
"Creepy, beautiful, witchy, and queer, Dead Girls Don't Dream was hard to put down. An engrossing and memorable read." ―Erica Waters, author of The River Has Teeth and All That Consumes Us
"Compassionate and unflinching, Dead Girls Don't Dream is one of the loveliest, most devastating things I've read in a long time." ―Sarah Gailey, Hugo Award-winning author of Just Like Home
"An eerie, modern fairy tale that sinks its teeth into readers from the first page. A must-read for folklore lovers and those who've wandered off the safe path in the woods." ―Alex Brown, Locus Award finalist, author of Damned If You Do
This information about Dead Girls Don't Dream was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Nino Cipri is a queer and trans/nonbinary writer, editor, and educator. They are a graduate of the 2014 Clarion Writers' Workshop, and earned their MFA in fiction from the University of Kansas. A multidisciplinary artist, Nino has also written plays, screenplays, and radio features; performed as a dancer, actor, and puppeteer; and worked as a stagehand, bookseller, bike mechanic, and labor organizer. They are the author of Homesick, a World Fantasy Award finalist and Dzanc Short Fiction Collection Prize winner, and the novellas Finna, a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda awards, and Defekt, a British Fantasy Award winner and finalist for the Philip K. Dick and Locus awards. Dead Girls Don't Dream is their young adult debut.
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