A New York Times bestseller. Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials in this “wickedly chilling” ( School Library Journal ) story about three sisters on a quest for revenge—and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them. Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow… Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town. Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under. Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into. Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters. But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself. Spring 18 Indie Next Pick Goodreads Best of the Month for March 2018 Goodreads Most Anticpated YA Novels of 2018 B&N Teen Blog Most Anticipated March YA Novels B&N Teen Blog Most Anticipated Debuts of 2018 B&N Teen Blog Most Anticipated YA Fantasy of 2018 BookBubs 14 New Books 'Harry Potter" fans will love in 2018 "A wickedly chilling debut about ghosts, witches, love, and revenge." -- School Library Journal "Chilling both by the damp, briny streets of Sparrow and by its residents’ sudden fervor for vengeance." -- BCCB, starred review "Balancing delicate emotion and authentic suspense, the hypnotic prose pulls readers into the question of how, or if, the curse of the sisters can be broken." -- Publishers Weekly "Readers will drown in this finely crafted, atmospheric book." -- Kirkus "Complex and sweetly satisfying." -- Booklist "A tale with substance and depth, one of magic and curses , betrayal and revenge, but most importantly, it is a story about the redemptive power of love to make even the worst wrongs, right. -- Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be. "Prepare to be bewitched." -- Paula Stokes, author of Liars, Inc . and Girl Against The Universe . "Eerie and enchanting." -- Jessica Spotswood, author of The Cahill Witch Chronicles and editor of Toil & Trouble "A magical , haunted tale of the sea, spells and secrets. . . . Beware! " -- Shannon Parker, author of The Rattled Bones Shea Ernshaw is the NYT bestselling author of The Wicker Deep andWinterwood. She is the winner of the 2019 Oregon Book Award and herdebut novel, The Wicked Deep, was an Indie Next Pick. She lives in asmall mountain town in Oregon and is happiest when lost in a good book,lost in the woods, or writing her next novel. The Wicked Deep ONE I have an old black-and-white photograph taken in the 1920s of a woman at a traveling circus floating in a massive tank filled with water, blond hair billowing around her head, legs hidden by a false mermaid’s fin made of metallic fabric and thread to look like scales. She is wispy and angelic, with thin lips pinched tightly together, holding her breath against the icy water. Several men stand in front of the glass tank, staring at her as if she were real. So easily fooled by the spectacle. I think of this photograph every spring, when murmurs begin to circulate through the town of Sparrow about the three sisters who were drowned beyond the maw of the harbor, past Lumiere Island, where I live with my mother. I imagine the three sisters floating like delicate ghosts in the dark shadows beneath the water’s surface, mercurial and preserved just like the sideshow mermaid. Did they struggle to stay above the waterline two centuries ago, when they were forced into the deep, or did they let the weight of each stone carry them swiftly to the cold, rocky bottom of the Pacific?’ A morning fog, somber and damp, slides over the surface of the ocean between Lumiere Island and the town of Sparrow. The water is calm as I walk down to the dock and begin untying the skiff—a flat-bottomed boat with two bench seats and an outboard motor. It’s not ideal for maneuvering in storms or gales but fine as a runner into town and back. Otis and Olga, two orange tabby cats who mysteriously appeared on the island as kittens two years back, have followed me down to the water, mewing behind me as if lamenting my departure. I leave every morning at this time, motoring across the bay before the bell rings for first period—Global Economics class, a subject that I will never use—and every morning they follow me to the dock. The intermittent beam of light from the lighthouse sweeps over the island, and for a mom