The Broken Edge of the World

This psychologically incisive supernatural novel by Bruzas (Ever Since) blends the eerie cadence of dark fairy tales with modern suspense to probe themes of obsession. Seventeen-year-old, white-cued Sylvie travels from Seattle to the Nebraska Great Plains, desperate to escape her emotionally distant father and uncover the untold story of her late mother, whom Sylvie never knew. In Nebraska, Sylvie encounters welcoming teenage ranch hand Jack and becomes increasingly fixated on a mysterious unnamed shepherd. Yet beneath her tentative sense of belonging on the ranch lies a persistent dread. Sylvie is convinced that something monstrous moves through the landscape, but the OCD and intrusive thoughts she lives with—which she calls “the monster inside my head”—make it difficult for her to trust her own perceptions. As she pieces together fragments of her mom’s past through a box of personal items and the memories of Madeline, a lodge owner who once knew her mother, Sylvie begins to suspect that her family history is entangled with the creature she believes is haunting the locale. Sylvie’s unflinchingly self-critical yet deeply empathetic first-person narration captures both the claustrophobic logic of her OCD and the aching vulnerability of a girl desperate to be seen and loved. It all adds up to a sensitive, fully fleshed-out portrayal of one teen navigating grief alongside mental health challenges. Ages 14–up. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow Literary. (July)