Description
They say Dor’s family is cursed. The house her great-great grandfather built on the Southside of St. John’s has never been at peace; the old people think it lies on a fairy path. Ever since electricity came to the island, things have gotten worse, and experiments in the brand-new technology of radio put her family in real peril.
In December 1901, Marconi arrives in Newfoundland with a secret mission: to receive the first wireless trans-Atlantic radio signal. Disguised as a boy, Dor joins his team. Then The Little Strangers kidnap her mother. Must Dor sabotage Marconi's experiments to save her?
Author Bio
Kate Story is a writer, dancer and actor. She is the author of five novels, including the YA Antilia series and Blasted, which received an honorable mention for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Her short stories have been included in numerous collections and journals; “runaway” was a finalist for the CBC Literary Awards. In 2015, she received the Ontario Arts Foundation’s K.M. Hunter Award for her work in theater. Born and raised in Newfoundland, she now lives in Peterborough, Ontario.
Prizes
- Governor General's Literary Award for Young People's TextShort-listed 2022
Review Quotes
“A sprawling, lyrical historical fantasy.” — Kirkus Reviews
“The result is constantly disconcerting—in a good way. It’s as though time has swallowed its own tail, turning St. John’s into a sci-fi setting for a gender-bending tale of adventure that reads like a cross between Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf. All of the characters come fully alive, from the plucky Dor/Jack, through her/his family and friends, the people of St. John’s, all the way down to Marconi himself, a dour man with not much penchant for the foibles and foolishness of the young. This is a compelling work, wonderful in its execution.” — Jeffrey Round, PinkPlayMags
Biographical note
Kate Story is a genderqueer writer and theatre artist who was born and raised in St. John’s, NL. Uncanny occurrences were not unheard-of growing up in the house on the Southside Road built by Kate’s great-great grandfather. Having fled to the mainland at sixteen, Kate keeps coming home to see family, do the occasional performance work, and get the occasional fit of the shudders. Kate lives in Peterborough/Nogojiwanong, Ontario, where the shudders are fuel for the writing and performance work.
Kate's previous novels include Blasted, Wrecked Upon This Shore, This Insubstantial Pageant, and the YA fantasy duology Antilia. Her collection of short fiction Ferry Back the Gifts was released in 2023. Urchin was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Award for Young People's Literature.
