The Tarnished Garden

Written by Alyssa Colman

Narrated by Laura Knight Keating

An enchanting companion to The Gilded Girl about sisterhood, growing up, and doing what's right.

The Manhattan School for Magic is the newest kindling school in New York, but Maeve O’Donnell knows she doesn’t deserve her place there. Although her sister, Izzy, is one of the school’s founders, Maeve can’t control her magic. She lives in fear of anyone—especially Izzy—finding out.

When Maeve’s magic goes rogue, leaving her trying to repair what she’s broken, she discovers a mysterious garden in the tenement neighborhood of the Tarnish, a hidden place where her magic actually works.

As her magic and confidence grow, she befriends those creatures for whom the garden is a haven: a litter of talking kittens (house dragons, of course) who need Maeve’s help to find their missing mother. But someone else is searching for the
kittens too, someone who doesn’t care how many magical sites must be destroyed to stop magic’s expansion. And Maeve’s unstable magic might be the only way to save her sister’s school from being snuffed out next.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781705022771

Alyssa Colman

Alyssa Colman is the author of THE GILDED GIRL, which won the 2021 Northern Lights Book Award for middle grade fantasy. Publishers Weekly called the story “a thoughtful and imaginative exploration of friendship, internal change, and perseverance” in a starred review. Alyssa lives in northern Virginia with her family.