The Wildalone

In this highly imaginative and complex debut novel, an Ivy League student finds herself caught in a love triangle between two mysterious brothers while trying to uncover long-buried family secrets during her freshman year at Princeton. The Wildalone is a literary crossover that deftly weaves in magical realism and paranormal elements, sure to appeal to fans of The Secret History and Twilight. Thea Slavin is Princeton's newest and possibly most gifted pianist. Homesick for her family in Bulgaria, she struggles with her unfamiliar American Life and tries to navigate the sexual politics and academic challenges of the Ivy League system. So far, so Freshman. When Thea lands a prestigious piano performance at Carnegie Hall, she believes she sees a mysterious boy watching her from the crowd. But at the end of the show, the only trace of him is a single white rose... Soon Thea finds herself in a complex love triangle with two very privileged but very different brothers who both have their own reasons to hide their past from her. Yet secrets are nothing new to Thea, as it slowly emerges that she is not the first Slavin daughter to attend Princeton; her sister was a student some years ago, and disappeared in shadowy and unresolved circumstances. Thea begins to peice together the mystery of her sister's disappearance as she discovers Dionysian practices at the college that mirror the Slavic legends of her homeland: that of the Samodivi or "wildalones," traditionally knowns as forest witches who beguile and entrap men. While slowly uncovering clues about her sister's fate, Thea journeys through the emotional pressures and vicissitudes of first love, torn between two compelling yet secretive boys. But Thea is devastated when she discovers the truth about the man she believes she loves and the sister she never quite knew.