We could not be more delighted to welcome Melissa Albert to Kepler’s to celebrate her fiercely stunning contemporary fantasy, The Hazel Wood, everyone is raving about:

Four starred reviews
"Thoroughly, creepily captivating." --Kristin Cashore (Graceling and Jane, Unlimited)
"Will be your next obsession." --Stephanie Garber (Caraval)
"Destined to be a classic." --Kami Garcia (The Lovely Reckless,  Beautiful Creatures) 
"Mesmerizing." --Karen McManus (One of Us Is Lying)
"One of the best books I've read in years." --Jennifer Niven (All the Bright Places)

And Columbia Pictures has already snapped up the film rights with the producers of Divergent attached to adapt it

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away--by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: "Stay away from the Hazel Wood."

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother's cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began--and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.

We have not stopped talking about this books since reading it in manuscript. The writing is exquisite, the characters alive and unforgettable – it’s twisty, inventive, disturbing, and kept me up late into the night until way past turning the last page. We could not love this more. 

Melissa Albert is the founding editor of the Barnes & Noble Teen Blog and the managing editor of BN.com. She has written for McSweeney’s, Time Out Chicago, MTV, and more. She will be in conversation with Stephanie Garber, author of Caraval