In a near-future world where hurricanes are weekly events, Eleanor escapes with her family to an abandoned beach town on Shadow Key after a storm destroys her school. There, she stumbles upon a strange and eerie discovery—a small colony of ghosts, each with their own peculiar story: a homesick pirate, a lovesick countess, the mysterious Nameless Mute Gentleman, and The Fabulous Singing Siren Sisters.
But the ghosts are in danger. Tentacled sea monsters called Oldies are stalking their souls, and with rising sea levels and more storms on the way, the ghosts’ time is running out. As a terrifying new storm approaches, Eleanor must rescue a ghost lost at sea and save her friends from the Oldies in a final, storm-chased battle of song against darkness. Wonders of Shadow Key is a quirky, suspenseful tale of one girl’s fight to use her voice for good.
Praise for Wonders of Shadow Key
“Wonders of Shadow Key is the most delightful surreal semi-apocalyptic middle-grade novel you’ll read this year. Part Coraline, part Ray Bradbury, with a dash of Lovecraft, this book delivers just the right mix of spooky mystery and more subtle horrors—like family vacations, friends moving away, and online school. JJ Fleming serves up colorful ghosts and eldritch terrors with a lot of heart and a clever sense of humor.”
—Jude Atwood, author of Maybe There Are Witches
“Ghostly party-goers, a phantom pirate, and a cast of sassy spirits come to rely on perceptive Eleanor for help in Wonders of Shadow Key, a page-turning new book set in the Florida Keys of the not-too-distant future. Readers won’t be able to get enough of Eleanor and her new friends, and the mystery that will keep them guessing until the very end!”
—Chantel Acevedo, author of Muse Squad and The Curse on Spectacle Key
“An offbeat charmer of a dystopian ghost story—funny, touching, and surprisingly ripe for young readers living through climate change.”
—G. Neri, author of Tru & Nelle and Concrete Cowboy
“In a near-future dystopian world where violent storms and floods have overtaken much of Florida, times are tough. Twelve-year-old Eleanor moves into an abandoned beachside apartment building with her parents to escape the ‘doorknockers’ who threaten their wobbly existence. Things heat up when she discovers they are not the only inhabitants of the building and El is the only person who knows it. When she discovers the truth about her new friends, open-hearted El fights to save them from terrible creatures who have come to claim them back into the dark waters of the gulf. A dancing pirate searching for his crew, a curmudgeonly countess hoping for romance, a faceless baby, and a stranger lost at sea are some of the odd characters conjured up by JJ Fleming, whose prose will make young readers think, laugh, and scream all on the same page.”
—Sue Lloyd-Davies, author of Pinkie’s Turnabout
“A delightfully warm story of friendship and trust.”
—Phillippe Diederich, author of Lalo Lespérance Never Forgot
