EDEN'S EVERDARK

A grieving girl accidentally slips into an alternate magical world inhabited by eerie, mystical creatures from her dead mother’s sketchbook.

Twelve-year-old Eden is mourning the loss of her mother when she and her father make their first visit to Safina Island, off the coast of Georgia, to meet her maternal relatives. Eden’s connection to them is tenuous, mostly consisting of the birthday cards containing pressed flowers sent by her great-aunt; Eden’s mother left the island when she was 12 following a bad accident, and she never wanted to return. Eden and her dad are going to participate in the annual celebration honoring the family’s purchase of half the island after they received their freedom from slavery. While staying in her mother’s childhood room, Eden looks through old boxes in the closet and finds, among the many sketchbooks containing nature drawings, one filled with creepy and terrifying images of a land called Everdark. Eden starts traveling there in her dreams until one day, while following a black cat around the island, she enters a portal, becomes trapped in this world, and must use her own hidden magic to find a way out. The complex narrative portrays multifaceted characters as it weaves together history, magic, and grief. Readers will enjoy the strong pacing along with learning about the island’s well-described mythology and root magic. Most characters are Black.

A textured, suspenseful story that traverses an island’s timeline and a family’s heritage.