Once a generation, an Everly walks into the dark, compelled by the shadow beside them.

Stubborn like an Everly, brave like an Everly, doomed like an Everly.

Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton for providing the arc in exchange for a review!

Violet’s family is cursed, one member in each generation doomed to be stolen away to another world.
In trying to find a way out of this fate, Violet discovers Fidelis: home of the scholars; of myth and wonder. The cradle to other worlds. Unlocked by keys owned by the scholars.

With her mother missing, and secrets wrapped up in mysterious, this enthralling, magical, lyrical stand-alone is rich in descriptions, emotions, and yearning.
In her desperation, what lengths will Violet go to uncover the truth of the curse? Of the astrals who are trapped in their world? Of the sweet boy who keeps appearing everywhere she goes, who seems so lost and alone?

Because adventure, it turns out, is a dangerously seductive word. It reaches underneath Violet's ribcage and pulls, like a cosmic string attuned to a compass point elsewhere.

This is such an ode to book lovers. Those of us who spent our childhoods (and heck, our adult lives) wishing for that hidden door, that secret cupboard, that mysterious passageway that leads… somewhere. To adventure. To something greater.

Books have always been her escape. When she couldn't leave the house, when no one would answer her questions, when she felt so very alone in the world. They have given her a way out before - maybe they can do it again.

I would recommend this to fans of A Darker Shade of Magic, Ink Blood Sister Scribe, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone.