Dead Girls Don’t Dream

Teenage Riley Walcott knows all the stories about Voynich Woods and the cryptids rumored to inhabit it, and exploring it proves to be an apt outlet through which she processes her grief over her mother’s abandonment of the family. When Riley is murdered by masked assailants one night deep in the woods during some kind of arcane ritual, she’s shocked when she’s brought back to life by a young witch named Madelyn, who lives in Voynich Woods with her powerful and domineering mother. Together, Riley and Madelyn investigate the truth behind the legends that seek to control both their lives. In the process, each discovers previously untapped power. Text by Cipri (Defekt) crackles with righteous rage that’s tempered by a palpable tenderness for the vulnerabilities of adolescence. The magic of solidarity between survivors of corrupt systems is a potent force throughout this incandescent horror novel that pulls no punches, resulting in a brutal modern fairy tale whose examinations of neglect, power, and survival pay off in dividends. Major characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. (Nov.)