Nonsense and candy and the families we choose in the origin story of a beloved character in the latest installment of the Hugo Award-winning Wayward Children series.

Before there was Sumi, Promised Savior of Confection, there was Onishi Sumiko, a girl with no idea where she belonged.

Onishi Sumiko was born to be an invisible girl. The second child of immigrant parents, overshadowed by her brother, she seemed destined for a life of quiet obedience, never breaking free of the path that had been chosen for her.

Until a chance encounter with an impossible door sends her tumbling into a world of peppermint dreams and sugary nightmares, leaving her trapped in a candy-coated heart of darkness.

Forced to adapt to the world of Confection, where the rules are as unpredictable as they are nonsensical, Sumiko must decide whether she’s going to be a meek, logical victim of her own fate—or whether she’s going to stand up and become the illogical, impossible hero she was always meant to be.

Not all sweet dreams are safe ones, as Sumi will quickly discover for herself.