The City of Stardust - by Georgia Summers

About the Book

"For centuries, the Everlys have seen their best and brightest disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick - and never forgives a debt. Violet Everly was a child when her mother left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer. Unless she can break the curse first. Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope's quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted - and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn. With her time running out, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A #1 International Bestseller - An Amazon Best Book of February 2024 - An IndieNext Pick

"A dark dream of a novel...that feels both timeless and original. Enjoy--and also beware. This fairy tale is deadly." --Laini Taylor

"A story as darkly wondrous as midnight. Enthralling to the last page." --Shelley Parker-Chan

"A dark, gorgeous tale of curses, gods and monsters." --Sangu Mandanna

A curse can be many things. For the Everlys, it begins with stardust.

For centuries, the Everlys have seen their best and brightest disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick - and never forgives a debt.

Violet Everly was a child when her mother, Marianne, left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take Marianne's place.

Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope's quiet assistant, Aleksander, who Violet knows cannot be trusted - and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.

With her time running out, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.

Slip into a lush world of magic, stardust, and monsters in this spellbinding standalone fantasy from debut author Georgia Summers.

Review Quotes

"The City of Stardust is a transporting fairy tale that transcends the genre with a surprising, contemplative ending that reconsiders the tropes with which it began."

--Shelf Awareness

"A dark dream of a novel, Georgia Summers's debut is like a sweet shop--an elegant, mysterious one--full of all my favorite things: a grand old house, strange magic, deep lore, a family curse, a cabal, a globe criss-crossing heroine, otherworldly beings, and a new mythos that feels both timeless and original. Welcome to The City of Stardust. Enjoy--and also beware. This fairy tale is deadly."--Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author

"With haunting prose and assured world building, Summers' debut shows promise. The City of Stardust has echoes of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus (2011) or V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020), and will intrigue fans of portal fantasies."--Booklist

"In this darkly gorgeous tale of yearning and curses, Summers explores the terrible and wonderful power of love in its many forms - enduring, loyal, selfish, toxic, destructive - and what happens when betrayal and survival are but two sides of the same coin. Utterly mesmerizing." --A. Y. Chao, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal

"A starry tale of curses, gods and scholars that glitters with magic. Beautifully spellbinding. I never wanted to leave the City of Stardust!"--M. A. Kuzniar, author of Midnight in Everwood

"The City of Stardust opens with a haunting prologue that weaves as enchanting a spell as any of the terrible and wonderful magic in the book, and it just gets better from there. Summers' debut is a dark, gorgeous tale of curses, gods and monsters, with the love and loyalty of family at its heart."--Sangu Mandanna, bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

"A story as darkly wondrous as midnight. Summers brilliantly takes our yearning to open doors to magical new worlds, and twists it into a seductively vicious dream of darkness, blood, and winged horrors. When monsters must be satiated, there is no escaping the choices between love and betrayal; survival and sacrifice. Enthralling to the last page." --Shelley Parker-Chan, Sunday Times bestselling author of She Who Became the Sun

"Georgia Summers's fascinating debut, The City of Stardust, draws readers into a compelling story full of magic, curses, keys, and stories. It asks what we would do to break a curse, to close a door, or to open one. Readers who loved The Starless Sea or The Ten Thousand Doors of January will also love this darkly magical book."--Kat Howard, author of the Unseen World duology

"In opening The City of Stardust, you enter a Gaiman-esque otherworld of scheming scholars and soul-stealing gods, where a daughter's quest to understand her mother's absence is as compelling as her fight against an ancient curse. The ghost of the city undone by pride and a broken promise haunts every page of this memorable and accomplished debut." --Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong

About the Author

Georgia Summers is half-British, half-Trinidadian and spent most of her life living across the world, including in Russia, Colombia, and the US. When she's not doing bookish things, she's planning her next great adventure. She currently lives in London, but she dreams of one day living in a haunted château with a ghost that cleans.