Literary fiction-Sci fi & Fantasy
406 pages
Pub date: 02 June 2026
My thoughts:
This book has gotten a tremendous number of good reviews and I was quite excited to receive an early copy of it from NetGalley and William Morrow. Thanks to both.
Here is a story about the difference between how life might be portrayed and what it is/was really like. It is about the difference for two children between their actual early years and their fictional portrayal in their author mother’s books.
Now as adults, one sibling is publishing a memoir while the other is planning an exhibit. Much will be revealed because of these decisions.
While I wanted to love this book and know that many others have, it was not the right book for me at this moment. It was a little too bleak or dark for me. It is described as Gothic so if that appeals to a reader, they will find much to love here.
All opinions here are my own.
Description:
from the publisher
A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK
“An extraordinary book. It’s a page-turner, full of mystery, but that’s the least of it. The language is dusted with magic. The Children reminded me of Ray Bradbury at his best.” —Stephen King
The haunting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert, in which the estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, must contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic.
Guinevere Sharpe has two childhoods.
In one, she and her brother, Ennis, live in the wooded shadow of their family’s isolated Vermont farmhouse; in the other, the pages of their mother’s world-famous Ninth City books, where their magical adventures have made them household names. In reality, Guinevere’s childhood isn’t the enchanted idyll her mother’s readers imagine: she and Ennis are growing up near-feral, unwashed and underfed, escaping each day to the wild woods they’ve made their playland. As Edith Sharpe’s books explode into epic popularity, the threats of a rural childhood give way to the escalating perils of fame—until the night it all goes up in flames, leaving Edith’s series unfinished and her children the sole survivors.
Now an adult coasting on her mother’s name, Guinevere is mid-promotion for a ghostwritten memoir when her estranged brother, an artist who has until now spurned his family’s legacy, announces an upcoming installation titled, simply, Mother. As rumors swirl around a death connected to his last show, unsettling recollections from Guinevere’s childhood begin to surface. Her public facade starts to crack, forcing her to confront the questions she’s spent the last twenty years running from: What really happened the night of the fire? And what dark history lies behind their mother’s fantasy world?
The Children is wise to the mythic weight childhood memories gather over time, and the way our most beloved stories grow up with us. It’s for anyone who’s ever revisited an old favorite and found its pages cast in a darker light, the line separating magic from reality blurring as we discover the books that once comforted us carry shadows of their own.
Editorial reviews:
Recommended by the New York Times • Los Angeles Times • People • New York Magazine • the Chicago Tribune • Forbes • Cosmopolitan • Oprah Daily • New York Post • Goodreads • Literary Hub • Good Housekeeping • Buzzfeed • Red • Page Six • Book Riot • AARP • Publishers Weekly • The Millions • She Reads . . . and more!
From Kirkus Reviews:
Albert balances traditional storytelling, fairy-tale elements, and inventive narrative structures like museum labels to create a novel way of looking at the places where the past and the present—both real and imagined—meet. Once it’s revealed, the truth—of the farmhouse, their mother, and Ennis’ reason for leaving—is darker and stranger than Guin could have imagined. Though the novel effectively maintains a sense of suspense and dread, it sometimes struggles under the weight of multiple nonlinear timelines. Regardless, Albert’s prose is undeniably beautiful as she contemplates memory, family lore, and the ways that art can both save and destroy people.
From Library Journal:
VERDICT- YA author Albert’s (The Bad Ones) adult debut is an atmospheric gothic fantasy that sees an eccentric set of siblings reframing their troubled childhoods, the legacy of their mother’s book series, and their present lives. A great addition to every collection.
From the Publisher:
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 