{"product_id":"the-children","title":"The Children","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNational Bestseller \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Read with Jenna \u003ci\u003eToday\u003c\/i\u003e Show Book Club Pick \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Editors' Choice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBook of the Month Club Pick\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIndie Next Pick\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLibraryReads Top 10 Pick\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRecommended by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e - \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e - \u003ci\u003ePeople \u003c\/i\u003e- \u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e - the \u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e - Forbes - \u003ci\u003eCosmopolitan\u003c\/i\u003e - Oprah Daily - \u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003e - Goodreads - Literary Hub - \u003ci\u003eGood Housekeeping\u003c\/i\u003e - Buzzfeed - Red - Page Six - Book Riot - AARP - \u003ci\u003eWoman's World\u003c\/i\u003e - Publishers Weekly - The Millions - She Reads . . . and more! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Not since Donna Tartt's \u003ci\u003eThe Secret History\u003c\/i\u003e have I loved a book filled with such magic and mystery. . . This is a layered, haunting adult fairy tale. . . I loved this book, you will love it, you will buy it, you will read it so fast.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJenna Bush Hager\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An extraordinary book. It's a page-turner, full of mystery, but that's the least of it. The language is dusted with magic. \u003ci\u003eThe Children \u003c\/i\u003ereminded me of Ray Bradbury at his best.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStephen King\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Enchantingly sinister. . . a Gothic thriller, with a frisson of magic . . . bewitching, the Farmhouse pulling everyone under its spell as hauntingly as any dwelling Shirley Jackson ever dreamed up.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJennifer Harlan, the New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The mysteries embedded in the novel--creative, familial, and supernatural--exert a powerful draw.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Albert spins a captivating tale exploring what it means for a mother to make art -- and at whose expense.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Melissa Albert, the popular young-adult author, flips over a speculative-fiction log to locate a squirming legacy of neglect. \"The Children\" (June 2), her first adult novel, follows the offspring of a famous fantasy writer as the secrets of their late mother shape their futures.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This deliciously creepy novel is an exhilarating mix of fairy-tale magic and generational trauma.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Read this with a chill down your spine - it's like \u003ci\u003eThe Haunting of Hill House\u003c\/i\u003e tinged with an eerie fairytale.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSA Today\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This sensuously written adult debut by a bestselling YA author layers gothic horror over a taught family drama that forces us to confront the line between artistic inspiration and human exploitation.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOprah Daily, Best Books of Summer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Melissa Albert's \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e isn't just something you read. It's something you breathe. It whispers at the nape of your neck, tugs at a hangnail. And what a thrill it is to be haunted by something like this.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I don't know how, but Melissa Albert has taken my most private nightmares and desires and published them as a dark fairy tale. \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a poison apple of a book: glossy, sweet, and absolutely terrifying. I don't think I'll ever get it out of my bloodstream.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling author of The Everlasting\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Evocative, arresting, genre-defying, and sublime. \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e altered my emotional state and haunted my every thought. Melissa Albert's adult debut is not to be missed, particularly by those who love complex family dynamics, doors that lead to both fantasy and horror, and stories that are not what they seem.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOlivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Haunting, dreamlike, and emotionally fearless, \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a reckoning. A book about memory, legacy, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e proves once again that Melissa Albert is one of the most singular voices writing today. Simply put: I loved it.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShea Ernshaw, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A History of Wild Places\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is lush, gothic and deliciously written. A transportive story about fractious family relations, fame, talent and the frailty of memory, the world-building is so vivid I can smell the fustiness of their farmhouse and the acrid tang of blood. It's giving art monster and ambition and sibling rivalry and the long shadow of a toxic, mythical mother, which is obviously right up my alley. Utterly gripping, it's exactly my type of beach read.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMary H.K. Choi, New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact and Pool House\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I might end up using all the adjectives to describe this sharp, lyrical, nuanced riff on family dysfunction and the costs of devoting oneself to art. \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a joyously grim, open-eyed, adult fairy tale with the messiest of morals (and I mean that as the highest possible praise), and I had so much damned fun reading it.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePaul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"[A] sheer pleasure. . . contemporary fantasy could certainly do with more sophisticated, updated takes on the genre like this one.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times (UK)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A pacy, modern-day narrative. . . every step is richly and enjoyably plotted, carefully laying the ground for a payoff that asks clear-eyed and uncomfortable questions about the true nature of artistic inspiration.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterclass in the uncanny as Albert explores the potential wonder and terror that can be found in the borders between fantasy and reality. . . a triumph. Albert's prose is sensuous and textural, creating the impression of a childhood that is both dreadful and enchanting. She writes with lyrical attentiveness to the physicality of her setting.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller (UK)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Melissa Albert has done it again with this eerily beautiful adult debut. Twisty and strange in all the best ways, and rendered in Albert's characteristic dreamlike prose, \u003cem\u003eThe Children\u003c\/em\u003e is exactly the grown-up fairytale I've been looking for. I loved Guin and her complicated relationships, as well as the deft interweaving of memories, stories, and reality--and the many places where they blur.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHeather Fawcett, New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde Series\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Profound, beguiling, and terrifying, Melissa Albert's first novel for adults is dangerous witchcraft of the highest order--an insidious and masterfully cast spell of a book about the stories we tell ourselves and each other, childhood's end, and the way that the sharp edges of creative lives draw so much blood. \u003cem\u003eThe Children\u003c\/em\u003e is gorgeous and dreadful, I devoured it.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMona Awad, bestselling author of Bunny\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Eerie and assured . . . The fantastical material complements the fairy tale quality of the pastoral Vermont setting . . . Even more intriguingly, Albert explores the potentially destructive role of art on its makers, subjects, and consumers. It's a sensuous delight.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"[The Children] \u003c\/i\u003eexplores grief, legacy, and the complicated inheritance of art, asking what it means to belong to a story that has shaped countless lives. Using glimpses of the past intermingled with the present-day narrative, Albert, in her adult debut, creates a haunting, dream-like story that pulls readers through open doorways and past dark rooms into the glittering Ninth City. For fans of Alix E. Harrow, Erin Morgenstern, and Naomi Novik.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Full of ornate prose, Albert's speculative-fiction crossover spans fantasy, gothic, supernatural horror, and mystery. Focusing on an eccentric family, a complicated legacy, and the forces behind their art and challenging lives, Albert creates strong characters with defined personalities and heartbreaking experiences. . . Albert's adult debut is an atmospheric gothic fantasy that sees an eccentric set of siblings reframing their troubled childhoods, the legacy of their mother's book series, and their present lives. A great addition to every collection.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth, and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a good book. It's a captivating debut.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review (Notable Children's Book) on The Hazel Wood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"An original and imaginative fairy tale: thrilling, fascinating, and poignant in equal measure.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly (Best YA Book of the Year) on The Hazel Wood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A darkly brilliant story of literary obsession, fairy-tale malignancy, and the measures a mother will take to spare her child.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal (Best Children's Book of the Year) on The Hazel Wood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A charming, mysterious fable that unpacks what it means to be a story and whether we are all simply the stories we hear and tell.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series on The Night Country\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Lush and deliciously sinister fairytales to be consumed as greedily as Turkish delight or any fairy fruit. I loved these.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKelly Link, author of Get in Trouble, on Tales from the Hinterland\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Every line reads like an incantation, and the result is a book pulsing with magic, one that holds the reader firmly under its spell.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eV. E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, on Our Crooked Hearts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Albert's fast-paced storytelling is both thrilling and accessible.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSchool Library Journal (starred review) on Our Crooked Hearts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Melissa Albert writes the kind of horror that doesn't just make you check under your bed―it makes you check your own reflection in the mirror. A black-veined, spectral howl of a novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Bad Ones \u003c\/em\u003ecements Albert as the contemporary queen of suburban fantasy.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAva Reid, author of A Study in Drowning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Melissa Albert weaves a tight mystery that takes on a different shape each time you turn it over in your hands. It's an eerie ode to girlhood, suburban legends and that one corner of the room you never want to visit in the dark.\" - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNPR on The Bad Ones\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNATIONAL BESTSELLER - A READ WITH JENNA \u003ci\u003eTODAY \u003c\/i\u003eSHOW BOOK CLUB PICK\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Enchantingly sinister. . . a Gothic thriller, with a frisson of magic.\" --Jennifer Harlan, \u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"An extraordinary book. It's a page-turner, full of mystery, but that's the least of it. The language is dusted with magic. \u003ci\u003eThe Children \u003c\/i\u003ereminded me of Ray Bradbury at his best.\" --Stephen King\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe haunting new novel from \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother's beloved fantasy series, must contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGuinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family's isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother's world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere's childhood isn't the enchanted idyll her mother's readers imagine: she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they've made their playland. As Edith Sharpe's books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame--until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith's series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow an adult coasting on her mother's name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family's legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, \u003ci\u003eMother\u003c\/i\u003e. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere's childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she's spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother's fantasy world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, and the way our most beloved stories grow up with us. It's for anyone who's ever revisited an old favorite and found its pages cast in a darker light, the line separating magic from reality blurring as we discover the books that once comforted us carry shadows of their own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/15\/2026 (EAN 9780063487437, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 03\/01\/2026 pg. 89 (EAN 9780063487437, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 04\/06\/2026 (EAN 9780063487437, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780063487437, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eAlbert, Melissa\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMelissa Albert \u003c\/strong\u003eis the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003eand indie bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eThe Bad Ones, Our Crooked Hearts, \u003c\/em\u003e and the Hazel Wood series. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and included in the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003elist of Notable Children's Books. \u003cem\u003eThe Children\u003c\/em\u003e is her first adult novel. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"William Morrow \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496288354582,"sku":"9780063487437","price":38.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780063487437.jpg?v=1783059068","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-children","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}