Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you’ve got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices. 

Fucking hell…I don’t know how how to begin with this review…SEANAN MCGUIRE IS MADE OF MAGIC, Y’ALL!!!! 

I’m not entirely sure how the Wayward Children books are being marketed/sold, but goddamn, I really hope these books are finding their way into the hands of kids, maybe 11-12 and older? There are certainly some darker thematic elements to the first two in this series, but…kids are dark. And weird. And they need gut-punchy stories about strange worlds & magic & finding yourself & VAMPIRES & reanimated corpses & stuff…so, Wayward Children. 

Down Among the Sticks and Bones is set before Every Heart a Doorway, and serves a bit like a prequel, or even an origin story for two key characters from the first book, Jacqueline and Jillian (aka Jack & Jill). They are born to Chester & Serena Wolcott, an exceedingly stiff & prim couple, who finally decide to have children for literally all the wrong reasons. 

Overwhelmed with caring for twins, the Wolcott’s enlist the aid of Louise, Chester’s mother. Their grandmother helps Jack & Jill to begin to embrace their inner selves somewhat, instead of adhering to the strict ideas of a Who They Should Be put upon them by their parents (with Jillian as the tomboy & Jacqueline as the immaculate princess). 

Their adventure begins when they are twelve years old, and stuck in the house on a rainy day, and very, very bored. They discover a secret doorway, as all the Wayward Children do. It leads them to a dark & mysterious world called the Moors, and it changes their lives forever. 

I don’t want to give away any more plot in this review than I already have, but needless to say, A LOT happens in this novella! It is just a fucking magical story, so beautifully written & poignant…it’s incredibly atmospheric & weird & wonderful…it has so much to say about being yourself, and about love. This series has just staggered me, completely. I love it so goddamn much!