Even calling Nova Ren Suma the heir apparent to Shirley Jackson, while entirely accurate, seems inadequate praise for her after The Walls Around Us. With her latest novel, it's as though she's somehow constructed a completely new language out of existing parts of our vernacular, a strange and impressive feat perfectly suited to this strange and hugely impressive work. It's impossible to look away from her writing, though we don't see why anyone would ever want to.
McNally Jackson is thrilled to be launching The Walls Around Us, an endlessly brilliant and daring novel from one of today's best young adult authors. Joining Nova in conversation will be Libba Bray, the New York Times bestselling author of The Gemma Doyle trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing); the Michael L. Printz Award-winning Going Bovine; Beauty Queens, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist; and The Diviners series.
If you are unable to attend this event but would like to order a copy of The Walls Around Us signed by Nova and personalized to the human being of your choice, please do so via our website (click here!). Please direct any questions about this signed book offer or Nova's in-store event here at McNally Jackson to cristin@mcnallyjackson.com.
“Ori’s dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She’s dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me.”
The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices—one still living and one long dead. On the outside, there’s Violet, an eighteen-year-old dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls’ juvenile detention center, there’s Amber, locked up for so long she can’t imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls’ darkest mysteries.
We hear Amber’s story and Violet’s, and through them Orianna’s, first from one angle, then from another, until gradually we begin to get the whole picture—which is not necessarily the one that either Amber or Violet wants us to see.
Nova Ren Suma is the author of the YA novels Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone, which were both named 2014 Outstanding Books for the College Bound by YALSA. She is a perennial McNally Jackson staff favorite. Learn more at NovaRen.com.