Published in 2022
419 pages
Ella McLeod is a writer, poet, and podcaster, who lives in South London with her fiancé and cat. She also co-hosts Comfort Creatures on the Maximum Fun Network. Ella loves Shakespeare, the Harlem Renaissance, mythology, and ramen, and firmly believes in the radical power of dreaming. This is her debut novel.
What is this book about?
A genre-bending YA that weaves together inner-city life and a wildly dangerous fairytale universe.
Rapunzella is imprisoned in a forest made of her own tangled Afro and the might of the pale King seems unstoppable. But is it? Can Rapunzella use her power to change the future?
You’re fifteen, you spend your time at school and at Val’s hair salon with Baker, Val’s son, who has eyes that are like falling off a cliff into space. The salon is a space of safety, but also of possibility and dreams… Dreams of hair so rich and alive that it grow upwards and outwards into a wild landscape, becomes trees and leaves, and houses birds and butterflies and all the secret creatures that belong in such a forest.
Is there a future where such possibility and power is more than just a dream?
A bold new voice in YA fiction.
Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Dean Atta and Kalynn Bayron.
A celebration of Black hair and the power of coming into your identity as a young woman.
