Description

A standalone mystery from a New York Times bestselling, Edgar Award-winning author set in a contemporary world tinged with magic, in which two sisters spend summer vacation in a small town in the shadows of abandoned amusement park that is not what it seems.

Ivy and Dahlia Vicar know this summer’s trip to visit friends in Rialto, Missouri, is going to be different from their usual family vacations.

Twelve-year-old Dahlia, an artist who lives with anxiety, is looking forward to something new. Rialto, after all, has its own abandoned theme park! But mystery-loving, fourteen-year-old Ivy is struggling with how to be the right kind of big sister to Dahlia, and longs for the way things-especially vacations-were when they were younger.

In Rialto, it quickly becomes clear that this vacation will also be different in totally unexpected ways. For one thing, the town stands in the middle of an improbable forest that, according to local legend, swallowed it overnight decades before. Then there are Dahlia’s even more improbable sightings of impossible creatures-a giraffe with antlers and a leopard with wings. And there’s their new friend Remy, whose family inherited the house they’re all staying in from an aunt who left bequests for local friends that Remy must personally distribute.

When he enlists Ivy and Dahlia to help deliver these gifts, they find themselves drawn into a mystery going back to the time when Rialto Park was still open. And it begins to seem that, if they are going to help Remy solve it, they will have to find a way to believe in magic.

Themes of friendship, family, mental health, and resilience are expertly woven through this magical, richly imagined story of two sisters and an enigmatic town that transforms everyone who visits it.

Publisher Review

“One of the most sensitive, realistic explorations of mental health I’ve yet seen in a middle grade novel. . . . A monumental piece of work, and utterly transportive.” – Adam Gidwitz, New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author of The Inquisitor’s Tale

“Rialto made me feel like I was a kid reader again, completely lost in the pages of a novel while the world around me thrummed with mystery and magic and possibility.” – Anne Ursu, award-winning author of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy

“A marvelous wonder of a novel that transports you to worlds you won’t ever want to leave.” – Grace Lin, New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

“Rialto is not just a story but a living, breathing place-vast and haunting and endless. . . . There is nothing like this book. You simply must read it.” – Jonathan Auxier, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Gardener

“Rialto begs us to ‘pretend if you need to, believe if you can,’ and then gives us so much to believe in. The best book I’ve read in a long time.” – Laurel Snyder, author of National Book Award nominee Orphan Island

“I would recommend Rialto to mystery readers, those who read for the family relationships, and those who would benefit from reading about anxiety. Kate Milford’s fabulist magic is fantastic.” – Kaden Knight, Linden Tree Books, Los Altos, CA

“Puzzle-novel master Milford outdoes herself here, [weaving] a tapestry of music boxes and mud-larking and wishing coins and fireworks into an entrancing climax . . . before slipping luxuriantly into a triumphant, memorable close.” – The Horn Book (starred review)

“A richly told tale that readers will reach for again and again. . . . Highly recommended.” – School Library Journal

“[A] whimsical fantasy. Grounded by a thoughtful story about sisters, this transporting, folkloric tale will delight.” – Booklist

“A lockpick’s handiwork and a fascinating list of bequests launch a magic-fueled investigation in this entrancing standalone mystery [and] whirlwind adventure.” – Publishers Weekly

“An adventure filled with fantasy, mystery, and danger.” – The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“‘Once upon a time, it was magical’: true of the book and its setting alike.” – Kirkus Reviews