Wolfwood

January 15, 2023
A New York City teenager discovers the dark secrets in her mother's paintings. Seventeen-year-old Indigo juggles jobs and school, trying to keep things afloat. Her mother, Zoe Serra, found acclaim through Wolfwood, her disturbing and violent series of watercolors. While the works were a gallery and art buyer's delight, Zoe never completed the series. Circumstances and chronic poor health have made her a "gray pencil-sketch version of herself," and knowing the impact of motherhood on her mother's career, Indigo can't help but blame herself. Motivated by a promised big payout and the possibility of bringing color back to her mother's life, Indigo enthusiastically supports a fortuitous opportunity to revive the Wolfwood series. But with the deadline approaching and her mother balking, desperate Indigo steps in. Not only is the forgery morally dodgy, it's dangerous too. As Indigo paints, the world of Wolfwood engulfs her. At first she writes these experiences off as sleep-deprived fever dreams, but when injuries manifest in the waking world, she understands there may be some credence to Zoe's reluctance. Interspersed between Indigo's present and her Wolfwood painting episodes are 1980s vignettes unveiling Zoe's past, most ominously the real-life trauma behind her macabre paintings. First-person narration puts readers inside Indigo's worries, anxiety, and guilt. Baer's storytelling is lushly descriptive and suspenseful; teasing details and clues keep the pages turning even as some repetitive moments slow the pace. The Serras are White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Twisty and tangled. (Fiction. 14-18)

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 15, 2023
Grades 10-12 Indigo, 17-year-old daughter of once-famous artist Zoe Serra, is secretly trying to complete the unfinished paintings in her mother's series, ""Wolfwood."" Her mother has a contract with an art gallery to show the paintings, but now she says she is unable to finish. As Indigo paints, she is literally caught up in the world of the paintings with their lush jungle of sentient and lethal plants and three sisters who are on a mission. Interspersed throughout Indigo's story is a chilling account of Zoe's past--the original inspiration for the paintings. At one point, Zoe's story begins to bleed into Indigo's experiences, and when Indigo finally recognizes that what she is doing is more perilous than just filling in her mother's sketches, she soldiers on. Indigo is a bright, compassionate, and stubborn individual who is determined to rise out of her current poverty; readers will appreciate her grit. In addition, she is surrounded by large-as-life and colorful characters who support and challenge her in this entirely original story.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.