Trudchen grew up hearing Odette’s stories of their monster-slaying mother and a magician’s curse. But now that Tru’s older, she’s starting to wonder if her older sister’s tales were just comforting lies, especially because there’s nothing fantastic about her own life—permanently disabled and in constant pain from childhood polio. In 1909, after a two-year absence, Od reappears with a suitcase supposedly full of weapons and a promise to rescue Tru from the monsters on their way to attack her. But it’s Od who seems haunted by something. And when the sisters’ search for their mother leads them to a face-off with the Leeds Devil, a nightmarish beast that’s wreaking havoc in the Mid-Atlantic states, Tru discovers the peculiar possibility that she and her sister—despite their dark pasts and ordinary appearances—might, indeed, have magic after all.
Author
Cat Winters is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author of five novels for teens: IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS, THE CURE FOR DREAMING, THE STEEP AND THORNY WAY, ODD & TRUE, and THE RAVEN'S TALE. She has been named a Morris Award finalist, a Bram Stoker Award nominee, and an Oregon Spirit Book Award winner, and her young adult novels have appeared on Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist best-of-the-year lists, as well as numerous state lists. She is also the author of two novels for adults, THE UNINVITED and YESTERNIGHT, and she contributed to the young adult horror anthology SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS. Her debut picture book, CUT!: HOW LOTTE REINIGER AND A PAIR OF SCISSORS REVOLUTIONIZED ANIMATION, written as C.E. Winters, will release from Greenwillow Books in Winter 2023. Winters lives in Oregon. Visit her online at www.catwinters.com.
