A riveting middle-grade fantasy about sibling bonds, enchanted houses and encroaching wilderness.The grass grew taller than the house itself, surrounding it on all sides. It stuffed the keyholes and scraped against the roof. It shook the walls and made paintings shiver.Seven years ago, the Ballastian sisters' parents left them in the magical Straygarden Place, a house surrounded by tall silver grass and floating trees. They left behind a warning saying never to leave the house or go into the grass. "Wait for us," the note read. "Sleep darkly." Ever since then, the house has taken care of Winnow, Mayhap and Pavonine - feeding them, clothing them, even keeping them company - while the girls have waited and grown up and played a guessing game: Think of an animal, think of a place,. Think of a person, think of a face. Until one day, when the eldest, fourteen-year-old Winnow, does the unthinkable and goes outside in the grass, and everything twelve-year-old Mayhap thought she knew about her home, her family, and even herself starts to unravel. With luscious, vivid prose, poet and author Hayley Chewins transports readers to a house where beloved little dogs crawl into their owners' minds to sleep, sick girls turn silver, and anything can be stolen - even laughter and silence.

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book has been graded for interest at 12-14 years.

There are 208 pages in this book. This book was published in 2022 by Walker Books Ltd .

Hayley Chewins grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, in a house full of books. A published poet, she studied classical voice before switching to a degree in English literature. The Turnaway Girls is her first novel. Hayley Chewins lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.