April 3, 2023
A Black high school junior moves to a town haunted by its tragic history in this ambitious paranormal horror novel from Tirado (Burn Down Rise Up). When her paternal grandfather, Lala, falls ill, star swimmer Bronwyn Sawyer moves from Illinois to Hillwoods, a tightly knit town in rural Arkansas. She quickly learns that Hillwoods is ruled by ritual steeped in superstition, and that swimming is forbidden due to a legend involving a murdered woman drowning people at a nearby lake. Bronwyn attempts to rekindle her relationship with her estranged townie cousin Anais, who is Black and queer, but the girls clash over Anais’s increasingly cagey behavior surrounding the supernatural roots of Hillwoods’ history. Anais asserts that her secretiveness is for Bronwyn’s own good and encourages Bronwyn to stop looking into the town’s past. While the mythos behind Hillwoods’ rituals is unique and eerie, the effect is somewhat deflated by a lack of horror-related happenings; grounded sequences depicting a violent hate crime, gun violence, and physical assault make up the bulk of the conflict. Nevertheless, Tirado doles out a chilling ghost story via Bronwyn and Anais’s courageous and urgent dual perspectives. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kristina Pérez, Zeno Agency.
