A #1 International Bestseller - An Amazon Best Book of February 2024 - An IndieNext Pick

"A dark dream of a novel...that feels both timeless and original. Enjoy--and also beware. This fairy tale is deadly." --Laini Taylor

"A story as darkly wondrous as midnight. Enthralling to the last page." --Shelley Parker-Chan

"A dark, gorgeous tale of curses, gods and monsters." --Sangu Mandanna

A curse can be many things. For the Everlys, it begins with stardust.

For centuries, the Everlys have seen their best and brightest disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick - and never forgives a debt.

Violet Everly was a child when her mother, Marianne, left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take Marianne's place.

Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope's quiet assistant, Aleksander, who Violet knows cannot be trusted - and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.

With her time running out, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.

Slip into a lush world of magic, stardust, and monsters in this spellbinding standalone fantasy from debut author Georgia Summers.