Darling Girl by Liz Michalski

In this beautiful, grounded, and darkly magical modern-day reimagining ofJ. M. Barrie’s classic, to save her daughter’s life one woman must take on the infamous Peter Pan—who is not the innocent adventurer the fairy tales make him out to be.

Life is looking up for Holly Darling, granddaughter of Wendy—yes, that Wendy. She’s running a successful skincare company; her son, Jack, is happy and healthy; and the tragedy of her past is well behind her…until she gets a call that her daughter, Eden, who has been in a coma for nearly a decade, has gone missing from the estate where she’s been long tucked away. And, worst of all, Holly knows who must be responsible: Peter Pan, who is not only very real, but more dangerous than anyone could imagine.

Eden’s disappearance is a disaster for more reasons than one. She has a rare condition that causes her to age rapidly—ironic, considering her father is the boy who will never grow up—which also makes her blood incredibly valuable. It’s a secret that Holly is desperate to protect, especially from Eden’s half-brother, Jack, who knows nothing about his sister or the crucial role she plays in his life. Holly has no one to turn to—her mother is the only other person in the world who knows that Peter is more than a story, but she refuses to accept that he is not the hero she’s always imagined. Desperate, Holly enlists the help of Christopher Cooke, a notorious ex-soldier, in the hopes of rescuing Eden before it’s too late . . . or she may lose both her children.

Darling Girl brings all the magic of the classic Peter Pan story to the present, while also exploring the dark underpinnings of fairy tales, grief, aging, sacrifice, motherhood, and just how far we will go to protect those we love.

★ “A dark and dazzling tale. Liz Michalski has used her own magic wand to shed light on the lengths we go to in order to preserve the myth of beauty, the myth of youth, and even the myth of fairytales themselves.” —Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author

★ “Darling Girl is a richly written story of what it means to live in the wake of a fairy tale, and the strength and courage it takes to step out of that shadow and find your own story. Full of heartache, sacrifice, and bravery, this is a book that will linger in a reader’s thoughts.” —Kat Howard, Alex Award-winning author of An Unkindness of Magicians

★ “A dark and elegant look at a story we all know well. Liz Michalski takes Peter Pan where all the old stories go, where magic is never without a cost, and pixie dust might be more powerful than you imagine.  Fantastic!” —Barbara O’Neal, When We Believed in Mermaids

★ “A gritty retelling of Peter Pan that incorporates a dark, disturbed Peter Pan into the lives of the Darling family’s descendants in search of immortality. Skincare magnate Holly Darling’s world is rocked when her comatose daughter goes missing, and things get even worse when she realizes there’s only one person who had a motive to steal her daughter – the shadow of a man she once knew. This is the perfect story for readers looking for the darker side of fairy tales.” —Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks

Publisher: ‎ Dutton (May 3, 2022)
Language: ‎ English
Hardcover: ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 0593185633
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0593185636
Item Weight: ‎ 1.27 pounds
Dimensions: ‎ 6.26 x 1.12 x 9.28 inches