VICTORIA SCHWAB is back again for the last remotely TTFOS related post (you can win a copy of THE NEAR WITCH here). And, man, I only wish I was as much of a daredevil as she obviously is. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seven Random Facts About V:
-I'm a stress baker. Seriously. Cookies will show up in friends' mailboxes, or on their doorsteps. Sometimes I even go on Twitter and shout out "Who wants cookies??" and then I bake and send them. Baking lets me switch gears, turn off plot-brain and simply fall into the familiar action of making food. Plus there's just enough science to keep me focused.
-I changed my focus in college more than most people change their clothes. Areas of interest to date: Physics, Film, East Asian Studies, Set Design, English, Creative Writing, Art History, Communications Design.
-A month before I was born, my grandmother had a prophecy cast for me by a psychic. I wasn't allowed to read it until I turned 18. It is, to this day, the most accurate thing that's ever been written or said about me.
-The first time I got paid for writing, I was 16. It was for an online poetry competition, and my winning poem was:
Perhaps the moon is in the sea,
Reflecting up against the sky
As night beams bathe in ocean waves
And all the stars
Swim by.
-I jumped out of an airplane on my 18th birthday.
-I got picked up for hitchhiking in France.
-I have a dream to walk across the United States. Because walking is the only time I feel fully sane.
-I'm a stress baker. Seriously. Cookies will show up in friends' mailboxes, or on their doorsteps. Sometimes I even go on Twitter and shout out "Who wants cookies??" and then I bake and send them. Baking lets me switch gears, turn off plot-brain and simply fall into the familiar action of making food. Plus there's just enough science to keep me focused.
-I changed my focus in college more than most people change their clothes. Areas of interest to date: Physics, Film, East Asian Studies, Set Design, English, Creative Writing, Art History, Communications Design.
-A month before I was born, my grandmother had a prophecy cast for me by a psychic. I wasn't allowed to read it until I turned 18. It is, to this day, the most accurate thing that's ever been written or said about me.
-The first time I got paid for writing, I was 16. It was for an online poetry competition, and my winning poem was:
Perhaps the moon is in the sea,
Reflecting up against the sky
As night beams bathe in ocean waves
And all the stars
Swim by.
-I jumped out of an airplane on my 18th birthday.
-I got picked up for hitchhiking in France.
-I have a dream to walk across the United States. Because walking is the only time I feel fully sane.
Summary:
The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.
If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.
And there are no strangers in the town of Near.
These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.
But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.
But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.
The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.
As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi’s need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.
Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab’s debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won’t soon forget.
