The Vanishing Station - by Ana Ellickson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Eighteen-year-old Ruby Santos, grappling with her mother's death and financial struggles, discovers her father's secret life as a magical underworld delivery person, leading her to take over his station and jump train lines, only to realize the perilous nature of the job and the dangerous world she has entered.

Book Synopsis

Author Ana Ellickson's The Vanishing Station is a lyrical and bold YA debut about an underground magic system in San Francisco--and the lengths one girl is willing to go to protect the ones she loves.

Eighteen-year-old Filipino American Ruby Santos has been unmoored since her mother's death. She can't apply to art school like she's always dreamed, and she and her father have had to move into the basement of their home and rent out the top floor while they work to pay back her mother's hospital bills.

Then Ruby finds out her father has been living a secret life as a delivery person for a magical underworld--he "jumps" train lines to help deliver packages for a powerful family. Recently, he's fallen behind on deliveries (and deeper into alcoholism), and if his debts aren't satisfied, they're going to take her mother's house. In an effort to protect her father and save all that remains of her mother, Ruby volunteers to take over her dad's station and start jumping train lines.

But this is no ordinary job. Ruby soon realizes that the trains are much more than doors to romance and adventure: they're also doors to trafficking illicit goods and fierce rivalries. As she becomes more entangled with the magical underworld and the mysterious boy who's helped her to learn magic, she realizes too late that she may be in over her head. Can she free her father and save her mother's house? Or has she only managed to get herself pulled into the dangerous web her father was trapped in?

Review Quotes

"A spellbinding thriller full of fantastical feats of imagination and perilous, world-traveling magic. At each breathless stop on the journey of reading this book I was struck by vivid moments of romance, deception, and grave danger as Ruby does all she can to save her father, her home, and herself."-- "Nova Ren Suma, New York Times bestselling author"

"For those hungry for a unique contemporary fantasy, this book delivers. Prepare yourself for nuanced characterization, aching romance, and a slick underground world that you've never seen before . . . just don't get too close to the tracks."-- "Emily J. Taylor, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel Magnifique"

"San Francisco is flipped upside down when Filipino American Ruby Santos ventures into a magical underworld to save her family. Against this rich, fantastical backdrop, Ellckson captures a complex character in Ruby that many will relate to, whose own dreams are sometimes offset by family burdens placed on young shoulders"-- "Lilliam Rivera, author of Never Look Back"

About the Author

Ana Ellickson writes about fierce girls, family curses, and everyday magic. The Vanishing Station is her debut novel, inspired by daydreams about jumping portals in the San Francisco subway. Roman the Renegade--her graphic novel script about street art and Filipino monsters--was awarded the 2021 New Visions Honor by Lee & Low Books. She lives in sunny Santa Barbara.