Hypersensitive twelve-year-old Peter Stone feels like he was born into the wrong family. His parents and siblings are extroverts, musicians, and yellers, and the louder they get, the less frequently Peter talks, even moves, until he practically embodies his last name. When his family moves out of the city and into the Texas Hill Country, though, Peter finds a tranquil, natural valley where he can, at last, hear himself think. There, he meets a girl his age, Annie Blythe. Annie tells Peter she's a "wish girl" and that she's been sneaking away from a local summer camp to do what she loves most: create art. Peter soon realises that Annie isn't a "wish girl"; she's a Make-a-Wish girl. And in two weeks' time she will have major surgery to remove a fast-growing tumor from her brain. Left untreated, the cancer will kill her. But the surgery may also take a substantial portion of her brain with it. Annie and Peter spend more and more time together in the valley, Annie teaching Peter how to use the natural world around them for artistic inspiration. But strange things happen in the valley. Those who mistreat it are greeted with insect bites and bee stings; those who understand it can walk barefoot for hours without a scratch. Annie and Peter hatch a plan to escape into the valley, which they begin to think is magical. But the pair soon discovers that the valley and life, may have other plans for them. And sometimes wishes come true in ways they would never expect.

 

There are 256 pages in this book. This book was published 2016 by Razorbill .

Nikki Loftin is a writer and native Texan who lives just outside Austin, Texas, with her two boys, two dogs, nine chickens, and one very patient husband. The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy is her first novel.