In this “riveting, atmospheric thriller that messes with your mind in the best way” (Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author), three residents of a secluded, seemingly peaceful commune investigate the disappearances of two outsiders.

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Often hired by families as a last resort, he takes on the case of Maggie St. James–a well-known author of dark, macabre children’s books–and is soon led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn’t exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it…he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis’s abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there’s a risk of bringing a disease–rot–into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn’t as safe as they believed–and that darkness takes many forms.

“As spine-chilling as it is beautifully crafted” (Ruth Emmie Lang, author of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance), A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

In this “slow-burning, atmospheric romance” (Publishers Weekly) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, an illness cursing the land forces a teen girl astronomer to venture across the wilderness in search of the stars’ message that will, hopefully, save them all.

When all is lost, look to the stars.

Vega has lived in the valley her whole life–forbidden by her mother to leave the safety of its borders because of the unknown threats waiting for her in the wilds beyond. But when Vega sees an omen in the sky–one she cannot ignore–she is forced to leave the protective boundaries of the valley for the first time. Yet the outside world is much more terrifying than Vega could have ever imagined. People are gravely sick–they lose their eyesight and their hearing, just before they lose their lives.

But Vega has a secret: she is the Last Astronomer–a title carried from generation to generation–and she is the only one who understands the knowledge of the stars. Knowledge that could hold the key to a cure. So when locals spot the tattoo on Vega’s neck in the shape of a constellation–the mark of an astronomer–chaos erupts. Fearing for her life, Vega is rescued by a girl named Cricket who leads her to Noah, a boy marked by his own mysterious tattoos.

On the run from the men hunting her, Vega sets out across the plains with Cricket and Noah, in search of a fabled cure kept secret by the astronomers. But as the line between friends and protectors begins to blur, Vega must decide whether to safeguard the sacred knowledge of the astronomers…or if she will risk everything to try to save them all.

Während Touristen in die Stadt strömen, fasziniert von der Legende um den Fluch der drei Schwestern, werden entlang der Küste Leichen gefunden.
Vor 200 Jahren wurden in einer kleinen Küstenstadt die drei Schwestern Marguerite, Aurora und Hazel als Hexen verurteilt. Man band ihnen Steine an die Füße und warf sie ins Meer.
Seither erheben sich ihre Geister jeden Sommer aus ihrem wässrigen Grab, um sich an den Bewohnern der Stadt zu rächen. Sie fahren in die Körper junger Frauen und locken Männer in den Tod.
Die 17-jährige Penny kümmert sich um den alten Leuchtturm. Wie viele Einheimische hat sie sich mit dem Schicksal der Stadt abgefunden. Sie weiß, dass das Meer auch dieses Jahr wieder drei Leichen ans Ufer spülen wird. Aber nur Penny sieht, was andere nicht sehen …
Wenn du etwas lesen willst, das voll gruseliger Atmosphäre und absolut fesselnd geschrieben ist, dann musst du hier zugreifen.