THE SECRETS BELOW

In this translated trilogy opener from Sweden by a celebrated mother/daughter duo, an ancient threat is turning the sea against a small island community—can anyone stop it?

Twelve-year-old Tuva has always felt different; she’s never had any friends. She hides mysterious scars on her neck behind her long, white-blond hair. But when her classmate Axel goes missing in an ominous fog, and Tuva finds his gym partner, Rasmus, being led through the forest by what turn out to be actual fairies, she’s thrust into the center of a thriller that’s all the more suspenseful for resisting the temptation to be frantic. More people go missing around Runmarö Island, tensions mount in the tiny Stockholm archipelago community, the police seem stumped, and Tuva and Rasmus team up and take matters into their own hands. As the adults around them prove increasingly tight-lipped, hostile, or downright frightening, and the sea between the islands grows blacker and more dangerous by the hour, Tuva and Rasmus uncover dark secrets, discover a world of living folklore, and, perhaps most importantly in this compellingly told tale about loneliness and isolation, forge a strong connection. In the end, only Tuva has the power to confront the ancient threat brewing in the deep—but first she must find out and accept who she really is.

A nail-biter in which a girl faces both her own isolation and the ancient powers of the sea.