Honeysuckle and Bone
-
- Pre-Order
-
- Expected 14 Jan 2025
-
- £6.99
Publisher Description
A deliciously dark, enticingly exotic YA contemporary gothic ghost story where even paradise is haunted, from a brilliant debut author. Perfect for fans of She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran and House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland.
The house has secrets of its own . . .
After a tragedy rips her life apart, Carina Marshall is looking to reinvent herself in her mother’s homeland of Jamaica. With her new gig as the au pair for the wealthy and powerful Hall family at Blackbead House, Carina wants nothing more than to disappear into their world of mango trees, tropical breezes and glamorous parties.
At first, Blackbead House seems like the perfect escape. Carina’s job is pretty easy, her boss is very welcoming and her new friends, especially the handsome and charismatic Aaron, help to ease the loneliness she’s felt for a long time.
But new beginnings don’t come easy. Because Carina isn’t who she says she is, and Blackbead House already knows . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A ghost haunts a grieving 18-year-old in Tobias's lush and alluring debut. Life in New York is miserable for Carina Marshall now that her best friend, Joy, is dead and her peers all hate her. To escape, Carina tells her parents she's driving cross-country but instead flies to Jamaica—a trip her Jamaican-born mother has forbidden, citing danger and expense. Joy was supposed to spend the summer nannying for the Halls, a prominent Jamaican family she'd never met, so Carina lies to the family and takes Joy's place. The Halls' estate, Blackbead House, is gorgeous; there, Carina immediately befriends some teenage employees, but she's also beset by violent visions, a cloying scent, and spectral messages demanding her departure. After hearing stories about a spirit tied to Blackbead, Carina starts digging, desperate to prove her tormenter isn't Joy seeking vengeance from beyond. Though Carina's supernatural encounters lack cogency and coherence, which undermines the tale's success as a ghost story, her first-person-present narration fosters tension while immersing readers in the sights, sounds, and culture of Jamaica. All of Tobias's fully fleshed characters have brown skin, and most speak with a "melodic lilt of patois." Ages 14–up.
