After an evil witch steals their aunt in a deal gone wrong, Nell and her sisters must embark on a fantastical journey to take the beldam down in this first book in a middle grade trilogy for fans of Coraline and the Sinister Summer series.

Although triplets Nell, Annet, and Hannah were born only minutes apart, Nell is the eldest, which means it’s her job to protect the others. But she doesn’t know how to defeat an enemy like the typhoid draining her sisters of life. Desperate, Nell will do whatever it takes to save them, even going to Hagstone Hill and making a deal with the evil witch—the beldam—who lives inside it.

Beldams are slippery to bargain with, known to cheat to get what they want—souls to feast on—but Nell has no choice. She and the beldam strike a deal: the beldam will save Nell’s sisters in return for something precious. Nothing Nell owns matters more than Annet and Hannah, so she’s prepared to give up whatever it is—especially once she sees her sisters getting healthy again. But when it’s time to pay, the beldam acts true to her nature and cheats. She doesn’t take something precious, but someone: the girls’ Aunt Lena.

Nell and her sisters must embark on a dangerous journey full of ghosts, goblins, and other dangers to save the only mother they’ve ever known from becoming the beldam’s next meal.

Johanna van Veen grew up in the Netherlands and is the author of adult horror novels My Darling Dreadful Thing and Blood on Her Tongue as well as the middle grade novel The Witch of Hagstone Hill. She earned both an MA in English literature and an MA book and digital media from Leiden University. When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her wife, her sisters, and her dog, though not necessarily all at the same time.