The Walls Around Us - Paperback

by Nova Ren Suma (Author)

A #1 New York Times Bestseller

An NPR Best Book of 2015
A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015
A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction of 2015
A BookRiot Best Book of 2015
A 2016 YALSA Best Book for Young Adults
A Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of 2015
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2015
A 2015 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Young Adult

"With evocative language, a shifting timeline and more than one unreliable narrator, Suma subtly explores the balance of power between the talented and the mediocre, the rich and the poor, the brave and the cowardly . . . To reveal more would be to uncover the bloody heart that beats beneath the floorboards of this urban-legend-tinged tale." --The New York Times

The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices--one still living and one dead. On the outside, there's Violet, an eighteen-year-old ballerina days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement. On the inside, within the walls of a girls' juvenile detention center, there's Amber, locked up for so long she can't imagine freedom. Tying these two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls' darkest mysteries: What really happened on the night Orianna stepped between Violet and her tormentors? What really happened on two strange nights at Aurora Hills? Will Amber and Violet and Orianna ever get the justice they deserve--in this life or in another one?

#1 Spring 2015 Kids' Indie Next List Pick
A Junior Library Guild Selection

Front Jacket

"Ori's dead because of what happened out behind the theater, in the tunnel made out of trees. She's dead because she got sent to that place upstate, locked up with those monsters. And she got sent there because of me."

On the outside, there's Violet, a dancer days away from the life of her dreams when something threatens to expose the shocking truth of her achievement.

On the inside, within the walls of Aurora Hills juvenile detention center, there's Amber, imprisoned for so long she can't imagine freedom.

Tying their two worlds together is Orianna, who holds the key to unlocking all the girls' darkest mysteries . . . The Walls Around Us is a ghostly story of suspense told in two voices--one still living and one long dead.

"Unputdownable . . . The well-paced plot reveals guilt, innocence, and dark truths that will not stay hidden." --The Boston Globe

"With evocative language, a shifting timeline and more than one unreliable narrator, Suma subtly explores the balance of power between the talented and the mediocre, the rich and the poor, the brave and the cowardly . . . To reveal more would be to uncover the bloody heart that beats beneath the floorboards of this urban-legend-tinged tale." --The New York Times

"A suspenseful tour de force, a ghost story of the best sort, the kind that creeps into your soul and haunts you." --Libba Bray, author of The Diviners and A Great and Terrible Beauty
"A gorgeously written, spellbinding ghost story." --Chicago Tribune

Author Biography

Nova Ren Suma is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us, which was an Edgar Award finalist. She also wrote Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone, and is co-creator of FORESHADOW: A Serial YA Anthology. She has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and teaches writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania. Originally from the Hudson Valley, she spent most of her adult life in New York City and now lives in Philadelphia.