There's the world you can see. And then there's the one you can't. Welcome to The Morningside.

The Morningside was once the jewel of Island City. But now the luxury high-rise is crumbling and Island City is half-underwater.

The building's newest resident is an eleven-year-old girl, Silvia. Having arrived with only her mother, who is stubbornly secretive, Silvia knows little about the place they left behind. But her aunt, Ena, superintendent of the high-rise, delights in recounting the richly imaginative folktales of their demolished homeland to her little niece.

Suddenly Silvia's world fills with magic and myths. Myths that seem to be coming true, when she encounters the mysterious inhabitant of the building's penthouse, Bezi Duras, and her three massive dogs that may or may not be humans in disguise . . .

Consumed by curiosity, Silvia embarks on a mission to find out the truth about Bezi Duras, and her own haunted past.

'Obreht has prodigious talent for storytelling' GUARDIAN

'A tremendously talented writer' ANN PATCHETT