Publishers Weekly
04/15/2024
A period of upheaval and heartbreak in a Black preteen’s life is exacerbated by supernatural forces in this emotional Southern horror by Royce (Conjure Island). Twelve-year-old Roderick Bolden has been in the care of Williamson Orphanage ever since his mother’s death. That is, until the intervention of Aunt Angela Hamilton, Roddie’s only living relative, whom he’s never met. Grieving the loss of her estranged sister, Aunt Angie welcomes Roddie to Dogwood House, the family’s ancestral home. The mansion, “a monster place in the middle of nowhere,” has been languishing in disrepair, and Aunt Angie intends to restore it. Grateful for his new home, Roddie is nonetheless unsettled by the dilapidated structure and the disturbing things he encounters, such as discovering clumps of hair under peeling wallpaper and a skeletal figure in an upstairs window. After Roddie finds a map of Dogwood House drawn by his mother, Aunt Angie informs him of the family’s hoodoo culture. Now, Roddie must connect with his cultural history to ward off the evil spirits that have taken notice of him. Royce employs marvelously eerie ambiance to craft a tale that is at once a moving narrative about grief and remembrance and a frightening, slow-burning haunted house adventure. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret. (July)
From the Publisher
"Eden Royce's thriller has all the earmarks of a classic haunted house tale paired with deeply-woven family traditions centered on hoodoo and Black hair. While the horror plot will keep you turning the pages, it's the emotional story of grief and family healing that will have you cheering at the end." — Tracey Baptiste, New York Times-bestselling author of The Jumbies
"Royce’s latest offers readers a strong, character-centered, hoodoo-infused narrative that’s a tribute to the beauty of Black hair. Richly detailed settings and themes of family, heritage, and grief provide anchors for the creepy mystery. A thrilling, hair-raising story with strong cultural roots and a well-developed sense of place." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Royce employs marvelously eerie ambiance to craft a tale that is at once a moving narrative about grief and remembrance and a frightening, slow-burning haunted house adventure." — Publishers Weekly
"Royce offers up an excellent middle-grade horror story full of eerie atmosphere that nicely folds in the importance of connections to cultural history, meaningful examinations of grief, the literal power of Black hair, and how to find light in darkness." — Booklist
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-05-04
A tragic event leads a tween to move in with his aunt and uncle in his family’s mysterious ancestral home in South Carolina.
Twelve-year-old Roderick Bolden has always treasured his hair. Recollections of sitting at his mother’s feet while she braided his thick Afro as they chatted about their days are some of his most cherished memories. Following an accident in which his mom’s car was engulfed in flames, Roddie was left orphaned, with only one living family member—Aunt Angie, his mom’s sister, whom he’s only met over video calls. After Roddie’s spent two months in an orphanage, Aunt Angie and her new husband, Erik, finally return from a long, offline honeymoon in Brazil. Shocked by the news, they’re ready to reconnect with family roots and care for Roddie. The trio moves into Dogwood House, the bone-chilling fixer-upper that his mother never told him about, even though she grew up there and it’s been passed down through the generations. Aunt Angie tells Roddie about their family’s hoodoo traditions, including a legend about an evil monster who wreaks havoc with people’s shed hair. Royce’s latest offers readers a strong, character-centered, hoodoo-infused narrative that’s a tribute to the beauty of Black hair. The richly detailed settings will make readers feel as though they’re right there with Roddie, and themes of family, heritage, and grief provide anchors for the creepy mystery.
A thrilling, hair-raising story with strong cultural roots and a well-developed sense of place. (Horror. 8-12)
