Curses and Other Buried Things - by Caroline George (Hardcover)

About the Book

Susana Prather wants one thing: to avoid becoming like the mother who abandoned her, no matter the cost. But when her eighteenth birthday triggers a generational curse, prompting Susana to sleepwalk into the Okefenokee Swamp behind her grandparents' house, she realizes the roots of her family tree run deeper than she believed . . .

Book Synopsis

Blood holds all kinds of curses.

Seven generations of women in Susana Prather's family have been lost to the Georgia swamp behind her house. The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she awakens soaked with water, with no memory of sleepwalking. No matter how she tries to stop it, she's pulled from her safe bed night after night, haunted by her own family history and legacy. Now, the truth feels unavoidable: it's only a matter of time before she loses her mind and the swamp becomes her grave.

Unless she can figure out how to break the curse.

When she isn't sleepwalking, she's dreaming of her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Suzanna Yawn, who set the curse in motion in 1855. Her ancestor's life bears such similarity to her own that it might hold the key she seeks. Or it might only foretell tragedy.

As Susana seeks solutions in the past and the present, family members hold secrets tighter to their chests, friends grow distant, and old flames threaten to sputter and die. But Susana has something no one else has been able to seize: the unflagging belief that all curses can be broken and that love can help a new future begin.

Based on her own family history, award-winning novelist Caroline George's latest novel is a staggeringly beautiful work of hope.

• Stand-alone young adult contemporary Southern gothic
• Perfect for fans of Wilder Girls, Dark and Shallow Lies, and Swamplandia!
• Book length: 97,000 words
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Review Quotes

'Caroline George creates an authentic sense of place for her deep south small town--it feels like sitting in someone's living room listening to local gossip.'--Isaac Marion, New York Times bestselling author of the Warm Bodies series

'Caroline George spins an immersive, beautifully crafted tale about overcoming the life-defining words we've always heard about ourselves and finding the courage to live in freedom. Unforgettable.'--Laura Taylor Namey, New York Times bestselling author of A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

'Caroline George weaves an intricate, soul-stirring story that wonderfully illustrates the power of our words--both spoken and unspoken--and the authority we grant them over our lives. Brimming with poetic and lyrical language, Caroline breathes vibrant life into her characters and into the hearts of everyone who reads them.'--Ellen Everett, author of I Saw You as a Flower and If Hearts Had Training Wheels

'Full of mystery and an eerie resonance, Curses and Other Buried Things explores the bonds, the beauty and the bitterness of family inheritances against a southern gothic setting that seeps into the reader like swamp water.'--Autumn Krause, author of Before the Devil Knows You're Here and A Dress for the Wicked

'Past and present are richly intertwined in this gorgeously written, atmospheric novel.'--Lygia Day Peñaflor, author of Creep: A Love Story

'Pulses with Southern Gothic mystery and atmosphere like the hum of summer-night cicadas, and glows with hope and love like the fireflies that illuminate the sultry dark. The only thing that will slow your page-turning is pausing every other line to read a perfect sentence a few more times.'--Jeff Zentner, Morris Award-winning author of The Serpent King

'A teenager strives to break a generations-old curse in which the firstborn daughter always meets a tragic end in this propulsive story by George (The Summer We Forgot) . . . Sumptuous, dark details increase the creeping atmosphere of this judiciously rendered psychological exploration of blame, healing, and trauma.'--Publisher's Weekly

'This story shows the power of both forgiveness and hatred . . . If you are looking for a tale with more depth, this is the book for you.'--Seattle Book Review