THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY

Fourteen-year-old Alice Creighton used to think the world was normal, and life followed a simple, if not particularly exciting, routine: do your studies, help around the house, and be in bed by 9 pm. But then strange and mysterious things began happening. She hears her father having an argument late one night and sees that the person he is arguing with is not a person at all but a fairy (though not one of the beautiful kind of fairies; this one is bald, with warts and needle-like teeth). The creature is threatening her father, insisting he accept a mysterious offer or else ...

The next day, Alice's dad goes off on a business trip and his ship sinks off South America, leaving Alice all alone in the world. She is convinced that something is wrong about her father's death though: that if fairies exist, then the accepted rules of the world no longer apply and it's possible that her father did not die. Alice is sent, meanwhile, to live with Mr. Geryon, an eccentric old man who was an associate of her father and possibly a relative. Mr. Geryon lives in the country in an enormous estate with a staff of servants. The house has a separate library, a place she is told to never visit. In her curiosity, Alice disobeys the order and, winding her way through the dark and massive library, sees another fairy creature. She becomes convinced that to find her father, she'll need to find out who these creatures are and who gives them their orders.

THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY is the first volume in a series followed by THE MAD APPRENTICE (2015) , THE PALACE OF GLASS (2016), and THE FALL OF THE READERS (2017).