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Dreams and Nightmares Collide in The School for Good and Evil
Fans of Hogwarts, there’s a new school in town! But before I take you there, let me introduce you to two young ladies.
First up is Sophie. With her shiny blond hair, green eyes, and perfect red lips, Sophie looks the part of a princess. She lives with her father in a little cottage, with turrets and green eaves, next to a sparkling lake in the town of Gavaldon. From the outside, Sophie’s life looks ideal, but her mother has been dead five years, and her father is ready to move on…without Sophie. Which is why Sophie has big plans. She “adopts” a friend—a pet project, really; someone in need of a little princess-like kindness. It’s all part of a grand scheme, although Sophie quickly discovers that she’s desperately in need of friendship herself.
Then there’s Agatha, Sophie’s project. The opposite of Sophie in just about every way, Agatha lives with her mother, on Graves Hill, at the very edge of the forest. Though she plays the part of the town doctor, Agatha’s mother is really a witch, one who once longed for bigger and better things, just like Sophie. Her dreams were never realized, but she’s determined that her daughter’s will be. With her dark, oily hair, shapeless black clothes, pale skin, and bulging eyes, Agatha appears to be well on her way to witchdom. But mostly she’s just lonely, and while flighty, pink-accented Sophie seems like the least likely candidate for a friend, the two girls form a bond that will be stretched, twisted, and pulled in ways neither girl can imagine, beginning on the night the School Master comes.
The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil Series #1)
Soman Chainani
3.9
Paperback
$9.99
Ships in 1-2 days.
Every four years, for the last two centuries, the School Master has come to Gavaldon in the dark of night on the 11th night of the 11th month, and two children have disappeared from the town that night. Sometimes it’s two boys, sometimes two girls, sometimes one of each. But always one beautiful and one homely. Neither child is ever seen or heard from again.
Almost. Because many years ago, the children of Gavaldon began to notice something strange. The children actually did appear again. Not in person, but in the pages of storybooks that mysteriously appear once a year on the steps of Mr. Deauville’s Storybook Shop. While nobody knows when or how the books arrive, they do know where they come from: The School for Good and Evil.
This year, Sophie is ready. While most parents are locking their children up tight, and most children are trembling in fear, Sophie herself wears her best dress in anticipation. Meanwhile, Agatha’s mother packs her daughter a bag, while Agatha scoffs at such a ridiculous legend. To Sophie’s delight (but not surprise), both girls are picked up by the School Master. But that’s where Sophie’s carefully laid plans come to an end.
Because instead of Agatha being deposited at the School for Evil, and Sophie at the School for Good, their assignments are reversed. Suddenly, Sophie finds herself the roommate of Hester, Anadil, and Dot, all children of famed storybook villains. Her course list includes Henchman Training, Uglification, and History of Villainy. Agatha, meanwhile, finds herself abandoned by her terrified and repulsed roommates, and all alone in the School for Good, and confused! There’s no way she’s meant to take classes on Animal Communication, Good Deeds and Princess Etiquette! Now Agatha is the one with the plan: Find Sophie and go home. If only it were that easy. The only way out of The School for Good and Evil, is to survive The School for Good and Evil.
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A whip-smart tale in the vein of Harry Potter meets The Brothers Grimm, Soman Chainani’s The School for Good and Evil explores the darker side of fairytales, offering uniquely twisted versions of familiar characters and stories. Torture and murder, thieving, and dark witchcraft abound. In the ultimate battle between good and evil, Chainani recognizes that the two are not always mutually exclusive. The evil often harbor secret wishes for goodness, while the good sometimes contain a darkness they don’t want to admit, even to themselves. It’s when the two halves come together that loyalties are tested, bonds broken, and destinies fulfilled.
The first in an exciting trilogy, The School for Good and Evil is a breathtakingly original story that offers a compelling spin on the fairytale world.
The long-awaited sequel to The School for Good and Evil, A World without Princes, is in stores this week.