The New York Times Book Review - Marjorie Ingall
…harks back to Shirley Jackson (a creepy house!), Sir Walter Scott (a cursed opal! strange mist!), and Henry James (another creepy house!). As she did in her best-selling The Walls Around Us, Suma serves up an unreliable narrator and a haunted residence full of trapped girls…Catherine House is haunted in the classic style: surrounded by a black wrought-iron gate and savagely pointed spiked fence, with dark and opaque curtains, a strange caretaker, a musty golden parlor and a portrait of the patroness with eyes that seem to follow Bina…Leaps and falls and cracks and edges are everywhere in A Room Away From the Wolves. It's all mist and mood.
Publishers Weekly
07/16/2018
When Sabina “Bina” Tremper, 17, is asked to leave the home she shares with her mother and stepfamily, she knows just what to do: she heads to Catherine House in Manhattan’s West Village, the women’s residence that her mother once called home for two glorious months. Named for Catherine de Barra, a young woman who leapt to her death from the home’s rooftop more than 100 years ago, the home serves as a refuge for young women. But it also seems to bind them to the home through a set of archaic rules and pledges. When Bina befriends her neighbor Monet Mathis, who seems to know more about the strange house than she lets on, Bina begins to piece together her mother’s past—and that of Catherine House itself. Suma (The Walls Around Us) poetically spins this riveting tale, part ghost story, part Bildungsroman, which may require a second reading for those not paying close attention as the story unfolds. As Monet says, “If you’re supposed to be somewhere, you’ll find it. If you’re not, you’ll walk right by and miss it.” Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich and Bourret. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Harks back to Shirley Jackson (a creepy house!), Sir Walter Scott (a cursed opal!), and Henry James (another creepy house!) . . . It’s all mist and mood . . . shiver-inducingly delicious.” —The New York Times Book Review “[Suma’s] narratives are subtle, quicksilver creatures, her language is elegant, and her characters keep more secrets than they reveal. If this book was a dessert, it wouldn't be a chocolate chip cookie or a vanilla birthday cake—it would be an earl grey lavender macaroon, or maybe balsamic fig ice cream.” —NPR “This beautiful story is full of magical-realism and luscious, lyrical writing.” —BuzzFeed “[Suma’s] latest is another masterpiece from the haunting writer.” —Paste Magazine “The tension that builds as this story begins to unfold won’t let you put the book down until you’re tearing through the last page.” —The Nerd Daily “Suma’s dreamy prose builds suspense as she bends reality . . . Give this to readers who prefer their books dark with a hint of the supernatural.” —VOYA Magazine “Nova Ren Suma is a YA horror legend, and in her latest book, A Room Away From The Wolves, she proves her prowess at writing dark, unsettling, page-turning tales” —Bustle “Nova Ren Suma’s marvelous book is the thrilling and moving story of a young woman’s escape to Gotham and the world she finds there.” —Flavorwire “A gorgeously written and evocative ghost tale set in a storied boardinghouse for troubled young women . . . Suma is a masterly storyteller, here creating a thoroughly unreliable modern narrator in a deliciously creepy gothic haunt. With much to mull over and discuss, this is a taut and nuanced coming-of-age tale perfect for fans of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars and Meg Wolitzer’s Belzhar.” —Luann Toth, School Library Journal, starred review “Suma’s latest gothic chiller contains all the components her fans have come to expect: an unreliable narrator; a haunted space; fraught, complicated female relationships; and a deliciously dark, moody atmosphere delivered in lyrical and evocative prose.”—The Horn Book Magazine “Terrific . . . A gothic love letter to secret places of New York City and the runaway girls who find them.” —Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble, 2016 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Fiction “Suma drapes her dark, enigmatic novel in a gauzy, supernatural veil, under which readers will observe a runaway teen’s search for safety and an understanding of her mother’s past . . . Suma’s surreal writing examines the blurred edges of life, lies, freedom, and mother-daughter relationships, leaving the reader with questions and a tangled sense of wonder.” —Julia Smith for Booklist “Nova Ren Suma surpasses herself with this gorgeously told, mesmerizing, tense and twisted story about the ways in which mothers fail their daughters, the lies that daughters tell their mothers, and the love that girls show one another when all the wolves are closing in.” —Laura Ruby, National Book Award Finalist and Printz-winning author of Bone Gap “Eerie and atmospheric as only Nova Ren Suma can write, A Room Away From the Wolves is a page-turning thrill. Its unforgettable protagonist is cut from the sharpest sentences and the achiest pieces of life—I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Gulp this one down and prepare to be left shivery and spooked and a little bit heartbroken.” —Emily X.R. Pan, New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Color of After “A Room Away From the Wolves had me tight in its grip from page one. It’s a captivating and richly told story of mothers and daughters, of losing and finding one's way—with the most brilliantly executed and unforgettable twists and turns. Bina’s voice recalls the unsettling beauty and verve of characters like Shirley Jackson’s Merricat, but exists as something wholly its own, stunning and true. Don't take a single word of this remarkable book for granted—Nova Ren Suma is a force to be reckoned with. Nobody writes like her.” —Courtney Summers, author of Sadie “A Room Away from the Wolves is a beautifully tangled chain, a modern gothic haunting by one of our masters.” —Elana K. Arnold, author of What Girls Are Made Of “This urban fable is a marvel of mood and magic.” —Melissa Albert for B&N Teen “I’d tell you how lovely the writing is, how smoothly crafted, and how haunting, but does Nova Ren Suma ever provide anything that isn’t?” —Dahlia Adler for B&N Teen
School Library Journal
08/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—A gorgeously written and evocative ghost tale set in a storied boardinghouse for troubled young women. Seventeen-year-old Sabina Tremper and her mother have always been thick as thieves, embarking on bold adventures, including running away from their first home. However, after Bina gets caught in a series of lies and destructive behavior, their bond becomes strained. When her mother decides to send her away for the summer to ease tensions with her new husband and teenage stepdaughters, Bina feels betrayed. She takes all the cash she can find and steals off into the night. Her plan is to go to New York City and rent a room at Catherine House, just as her mother did the summer before she was born. In this lost-in-time house of secrets, Bina discovers a safe haven to confront her personal demons, some mysterious and powerful talismans from the past, and a kindred spirit whom she can trust. The teen soon realizes that once a young woman takes up residence, she cannot leave Catherine House. Suma is a masterly storyteller, here creating a thoroughly unreliable modern narrator in a deliciously creepy Gothic haunt. VERDICT With much to mull over and discuss, this is a taut and nuanced coming-of-age tale perfect for fans of E. Lockhart's When We Were Liars and Meg Wolitzer's Belzhar.—Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Kirkus Reviews
2018-05-28
A young woman leaves home in search of a refuge where she can reinvent herself but discovers she can't escape the past.Sabina Tremper's mother kicks her out in order to put space between Bina and her volatile stepsisters. The next day, she arrives at Catherine House, a boardinghouse for young women in Manhattan's West Village, where her mother spent a long-ago summer that Bina grew up hearing stories about. Upon arriving, she receives a warning from the mother of a departing boarder: Don't move in. And the questions begin piling up. Why does the house seem to have an unbreakable hold on everyone who inhabits its century-old walls? Why is the landlady so pleased to have all the rooms filled in a particular manner? Who is Bina's new friend Monet Mathis, a reckless girl who hides behind colorful wigs? The house and its occupants have many secrets, but 17-year-old Bina is discouraged from asking questions. The lines separating reality from hallucination and outright lies is thin. Bina is a self-proclaimed chronic liar and a thief, an intersection that results in an unreliable first-person narrator from start to finish. However, her narration is quietly poetic. There's a little diversity among the boarders, although most default to white. Bina is white and Jewish; Monet has light brown skin.So nuanced it requires a second reading. (Suspense. 12-adult)
