Wolfwood - by Marianna Baer (Hardcover)

About the Book

Indigo finds a series of paintings made by her mother that could be the solution to their financial insecurities; however, her mother refuses to revive the series, so Indigo secretly takes up the brush herself and falls into the paintings' dangerous world which blurs fantasy and reality.

Book Synopsis

In Marianna Baer's young adult novel Wolfwood, a teenage girl begins secretly forging paintings, plunging her into a dark and dangerous imaginary world.

"Rich and lucid and gripping." --New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert

Indigo and her mother, once-famous artist Zoe Serra, have barely been scraping by since her mom's breakdown. When a gallery offers Zoe a revival show for her unfinished blockbuster series, Wolfwood, Indigo knows it's a crucial chance to finally regain stability. Zoe, however, mysteriously refuses. Desperate not to lose the opportunity, Indigo secretly takes up the brush herself.

It turns out, there might be a very good reason her mother wants nothing to do with Wolfwood. Painting submerges Indigo into Wolfwood itself--a dangerous jungle where an army of grotesque, monstrous flora is in a violent battle with a band of girls. As Indigo enters Wolfwood again and again, the line between fantasy and reality blurs. It's a tenuous balancing act: keeping her forgery secret and her mind lucid, all while fighting her attraction to Kai, the son of the gallery owner.

And by the time Indigo realizes the true nature of the monsters she's up against, it might be too late--and the monsters might just win.

Review Quotes

"Baer's storytelling is lushly descriptive and suspenseful; teasing details and clues keep the pages turning. Twisty and tangled."--Kirkus Reviews

"Indigo is a bright, compassionate, and stubborn individual who is determined to rise out of her current poverty; readers will appreciate her grit. In addition, she is surrounded by large-as-life and colorful characters who support and challenge her in this entirely original story."--Booklist

"Readers looking for a character-driven story fraught with emotional suspense should pick this one up."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Wolfwood is many good things: a high-stakes mystery, a psychological thriller and a real-world story that teeters, precariously, on the edge of fantasy and horror. It's a paean to the healing power of art and a love story: what will you do for love? What might you have to do in Wolfwood in order to be happy in the real world?"--Tim Wynne-Jones, author of The Uninvited

About the Author

Marianna Baer is the author of The Inconceivable Life of Quinn, which Publishers Weekly called "a delicate, complicated, and engrossing exploration of the collision between real life and the inexplicable" in a starred review. She's a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She lives in Brooklyn.