Dead Girls Don't Dream

Nino Cipri

$33.95

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

SQUARE FISH
11 November 2025

Thrillers (Children's&YA); Horror & ghost stories, chillers (Children's&YA); Personal & social issues: sexuality & relationships (Children's&YA); Young Adult Galaxy

There are rules for Voynich Woods: Always carry a whistle. Never go alone. Always come home before dark. And if anyone calls your name, don't answer. Because everyone who wanders from the path is never seen again.

Except for Riley Walcott.

Riley knows better than to stray from the trail in the woods behind her uncle Toby's house. But her little sister Sam breaks the rules in pursuit of a local legend, so Riley chases after her and discovers a knife-wielding figure and a waiting grave.

Madelyn lives deep in the forest. Subject to her mother's strict rules, she's forbidden from leaving home or using her magic--but one night, she risks everything to help a stranger who's lost in the woods.

Riley is murdered in a strange ritual, Madelyn uses her magic to resurrect her, and their lives are immediately entwined in the gnarled history of Voynich Woods. Riley, who feels trapped in her small town but too afraid to leave, was never a believer, but now the evidence is taking root under her skin. Madelyn has the scars to prove how terrible magic can be, and longs for a life beyond her mother's grasp. As the legends become all too real, Riley and Madelyn must confront their deepest fears to uncover the truth about Voynich Woods.

At once tender, violent, and thrilling, Dead Girls Don't Dream is a novel of recovery, healing, and finding your power.

By: Nino Cipri
Imprint: SQUARE FISH
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 137mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781250394682
ISBN 10: 1250394686
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 11 November 2025
Recommended Age: From 14 to 18 years
Audience: Young adult , Preschool (0-5)
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Nino Cipri is a queer and trans/nonbinary writer, editor, and educator. They are a graduate of the 2014 Clarion Writers' Workshop, and earned their MFA in fiction from the University of Kansas. A multidisciplinary artist, Nino has also written plays, screenplays, and radio features; performed as a dancer, actor, and puppeteer; and worked as a stagehand, bookseller, bike mechanic, and labor organizer. They are the author of Homesick, a World Fantasy Award finalist and Dzanc Short Fiction Collection Prize winner, and the novellas Finna, a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda awards, and Defekt, a British Fantasy Award winner and finalist for the Philip K. Dick and Locus awards. Dead Girls Don't Dream is their young adult debut.

Reviews for Dead Girls Don't Dream

★ ""A coming-of-age tale that's dripping with dark magic."" --Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ ""Crackles with righteous rage. A brutal modern fairy tale."" --Publishers Weekly, starred review ""This novel is creepy and, at times, gorier and more violent than many other Y.A. horror novels, but at its core are important lessons about perseverance, growing up and using whatever talents you've been given in life."" -The New York Times ""A haunting, macabre story about girls whose connection is stronger than death."" --Newbery Honor winner Darcie Little Badger ""As twisting and haunting as a gnarled old tree, this queer coming-of-age novel is chock-full of body horror, monsters, strange magic, and a mythos so strong it bursts through the pages."" --Booklist ""A horror novel that's all heart. Beautiful and agonizing."" --Sarah Hollowell, author of What Stalks Among Us and A Dark and Starless Forest, a Locus Award nominee ""Creepy, beautiful, witchy, and queer, Dead Girls Don't Dream was hard to put down. An engrossing and memorable read."" --Erica Waters, author of The River Has Teeth and All That Consumes Us ""Compassionate and unflinching, Dead Girls Don't Dream is one of the loveliest, most devastating things I've read in a long time."" --Sarah Gailey, Hugo Award-winning author of Just Like Home ""An eerie, modern fairy tale that sinks its teeth into readers from the first page. A must-read for folklore lovers and those who've wandered off the safe path in the woods."" --Alex Brown, Locus Award finalist, author of Damned If You Do ""Atmospheric and intense and honest, Dead Girls Don't Dream reads like a love song to the power we find within ourselves."" --Maggie Tokuda-Hall, author of Squad