Lavender and Hemlock
Will be published approx. on 10. November 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-83541-577-1 (ISBN)
Description
This cosy, atmospheric Sapphic multiverse fantasy spins a tale of love against all odds and across many worlds, for fans of The Ten Thousand Doors of January and V. E. Schwab's Shades of Magic series.
Every morning, Tansy takes tea to her employer, Lady Aster. She goes on a walk along the cliffs, waving to the cat on her way. She dusts the elaborate glass globes full of strange and beautiful worlds that Lady Aster creates. She cleans their cottage, Oubliette. Every day, exactly the same.
Until, one afternoon, Tansy drops the globe containing a replica of the cottage, leaving a tiny fracture in the glass. And things begin to change.
She finds an injured knight from another world, Merit, sleeping in their pigsty. Merit was raised to be a monster, a servant of the terrible Unmaker who once terrorised her world-but after betraying a fellow knight, she escaped through a crack between places and found herself in the Oubliette.
There's a reason every day in the Oubliette is identical; that Tansy can't remember anything about her life before she joined Lady Aster's service. As she and Merit begin to explore the many worlds outside the Oubliette, they realise one story unites them all: the trail of war, violence and destruction left by the Unmaker, who they fear will one day return. And-however unwittingly-Tansy and Merit have opened the door.
The crack in the Oubliette was only the beginning. Soon, as the Unmaker's story becomes increasingly ensnared with their own, both Tansy and Merit will have to choose: are they who they were born to be, or the people they've become to each other?
Every morning, Tansy takes tea to her employer, Lady Aster. She goes on a walk along the cliffs, waving to the cat on her way. She dusts the elaborate glass globes full of strange and beautiful worlds that Lady Aster creates. She cleans their cottage, Oubliette. Every day, exactly the same.
Until, one afternoon, Tansy drops the globe containing a replica of the cottage, leaving a tiny fracture in the glass. And things begin to change.
She finds an injured knight from another world, Merit, sleeping in their pigsty. Merit was raised to be a monster, a servant of the terrible Unmaker who once terrorised her world-but after betraying a fellow knight, she escaped through a crack between places and found herself in the Oubliette.
There's a reason every day in the Oubliette is identical; that Tansy can't remember anything about her life before she joined Lady Aster's service. As she and Merit begin to explore the many worlds outside the Oubliette, they realise one story unites them all: the trail of war, violence and destruction left by the Unmaker, who they fear will one day return. And-however unwittingly-Tansy and Merit have opened the door.
The crack in the Oubliette was only the beginning. Soon, as the Unmaker's story becomes increasingly ensnared with their own, both Tansy and Merit will have to choose: are they who they were born to be, or the people they've become to each other?
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Lili WilkinsonPerfectly blending fantasy and dark academia, Unhallowed Halls delivers a haunting tale of twisted secrets and heart-pounding betrayals. The mesmerizing mystery will keep you turning the pages late into the night, but the soul of the story--the aching desire to belong and the joy of finding home in friendship--will keep you thinking about this book long after you finish.
-Camilla Raines, author of The Hollow and the Haunted
Dark magic and strange and ancient secrets unfurl in this stunning foray whose skillful plotting is reminiscent of Donna Tart's The Secret History. Painterly descriptions of a rainy gothic atmosphere punctuated by suspense, horror, and humor as experienced by a dynamic and intersectionally diverse found-family cast feel at once as classic as its inspirations, and as an invigorating reinvention of the genre.
-Publisher's Weekly starred review
Wilkinson lavishly renders the setting through descriptive prose that revels in the school's decaying decadence. In constantly rising action that builds to increasingly fantastical and dramatic reveals, Page uncovers impossible magics, deep-rooted conspiracies, and lethal stakes. The world-breaking, bittersweet climax comes at a high cost... Moody, gripping dark academia steeped in magic.
-Kirkus starred review
The luscious depth of the worldbuilding and the effortless skill with which it is conveyed make me utterly jealous. Read this, and wonder where Lili Wilkinson has been all your life.
-Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Aurora Cycle
A gorgeous dark fantasy about the unshakeable bond between two girls, and the undeniable power of female rage.
-Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100
A lush, spellbinding tale with dangerously enchanting characters, A Hunger of Thorns is filled with gorgeous emotion and sapphic yearning that will leave you breathless. Wilkinson's masterful new story soars. This is one for all the wild girls who get lost in fairy tales.
-C. S. Pacat, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Rise
This is my kind of fairy tale: visceral and dark, lush and lovely, and filled with feral girls who know how to save themselves. A Hunger of Thorns is a beautiful, ferocious vine that will work its way inside you and linger. I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come.
-Kate J. Armstrong, author of Nightbirds
Readers who prefer stories with rich characters will effortlessly lose themselves in this ambitious, lyrical fairy tale.
-Booklist
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 55 mm
Weight
255 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83541-577-1 (9781835415771)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Lili Wilkinson is the author of over a dozen books for children and young adults, including the YA novels The Boundless Sublime, After the Lights Go Out, and The Erasure Initiative. Her latest YA novels, A Hunger of Thorns and Deep is the Fen, were published by Delacorte in Spring 2023 and 2024, respectively. As L.M. Wilkinson, she is the author of Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria, the first in a new middle grade series illustrated by Lavanya Naidu. She helped establish InsideADog.com.au and The Inky Awards - Australia's first national teen choice award - at the State Library of Victoria's Centre for Youth Literature. She received her PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, and lives in Melbourne with her husband and son.