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Melissa Albert is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of The Bad Ones, Our Crooked Hearts, and the Hazel Wood series. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and included in the New York Times list of Notable Children’s Books. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. The Children is her first novel for adults.
I might end up using all the adjectives to describe this sharp, lyrical, nuanced riff on family dysfunction and the costs of devoting oneself to art. The Children is a joyously grim, open-eyed, adult fairy tale with the messiest of morals (and I mean that as the highest possible praise), and I had so much damned fun reading it -- PAUL TREMBLAY, New York Times-bestselling author of Horror Movie and A Head Full of Ghosts Profound, beguiling and terrifying, Melissa Albert’s first novel for adults is dangerous witchcraft of the highest order – an insidious and masterfully cast spell of a book about the stories we tell ourselves and each other, childhood’s end and the way that the sharp edges of creative lives draw so much blood. The Children is gorgeous and dreadful, I devoured it -- MONA AWAD, bestselling author of Bunny I don't know how, but Melissa Albert has taken my most private nightmares and desires and published them as a dark fairy tale. The Children is a poison apple of a book: glossy, sweet, and absolutely terrifying. I don't think I'll ever get it out of my bloodstream -- ALIX E. HARROW, New York Times-bestselling author of The Everlasting Melissa Albert has done it again with this eerily beautiful adult debut. Twisty and strange in all the best ways, and rendered in Albert's characteristic dreamlike prose, The Children is exactly the grown-up fairytale I've been looking for. I loved Guin and her complicated relationships, as well as the deft interweaving of memories, stories, and reality – and the many places where they blur. Highly recommend -- HEATHER FAWCETT, New York Times-bestselling author of the Emily Wilde Series Evocative, arresting, genre-defying, and sublime. The Children altered my emotional state and haunted my every thought. Melissa Albert’s adult debut is not to be missed, particularly by those who love complex family dynamics, doors that lead to both fantasy and horror, and stories that are not what they seem -- OLIVIE BLAKE, author of The Atlas Six From the bestselling YA author Albert, a first novel for adults that blends mystery, fantasy, and a sort of publishing world realism to create a twisty, delicious, and – I mean this in the best way – faintly sinister reading experience . . . If you are a grown-up who, at one time, believed that Narnia (or Neverland, or Oz) was real, this book is for you * Lit Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2026 * Melissa Albert brings all the dark magic and fraught mother/daughter dynamics of her contemporary fantasy YA novels The Hazel Wood and The Bad Ones into her adult debut * Lit Hub, 25 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Look Forward to in 2026 *
