Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series
Where it all began—the first three books in Seanan McGuire's multi-Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series.
Join the students of Eleanor West, and jump through doors into worlds both dangerous and extraordinary.
Book 1: Every Heart a Doorway
Book 2: Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Book 3: Beneath the Sugar Sky
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Meet Nancy, cast out of her world by the Lord of the Dead; Jack and Jill, each adopted by a monster of the Moors; Sumi and her impossible daughter, Rini.
Three worlds, three adventures, three sets of lives destined to intersect.
Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations / No Visitors / No Quests
But quests are what these children do best...
The series
In the Wayward Children series, Seanan McGuire invites readers into a world where children discover doors to alternate realities—worlds that feel more like home than the one they were born into. But when they return to the mundane world, they find themselves lost, unable to reconnect with a reality that feels increasingly foreign. It’s a story about being somewhere you don’t belong and longing for a place that can never be returned to.
Read full series description
The series opens with Every Heart a Doorway, where readers are introduced to Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children. Here, the misfits are offered a safe haven to process their experiences, from worlds of beauty and magic to those of science, logic, and madness. But beyond the walls of the school, these kids must contend with the realities of their strange and often dangerous adventures, and the haunting question of whether they'll ever truly fit back into a world that no longer feels like their own.
Each installment delves into a different child’s journey, unraveling unique stories of self-discovery, resilience, and loss. In Down Among the Sticks and Bones, the focus shifts to twins Jack and Jill, who must come to terms with their dark and twisted past. Meanwhile, Beneath the Sugar Sky and In an Absent Dream explore realms where logic clashes with emotion, and reality twists under the weight of imagination. With each tale, McGuire masterfully layers her characters' development against the backdrop of the strange worlds they inhabit—worlds that are as wondrous as they are perilous.
The Wayward Children series isn’t just a portal fantasy. It’s a poignant exploration of belonging, identity, and the bittersweet nature of homecoming. It’s about the worlds we create within ourselves when we’re forced to navigate between spaces that feel impossible to reconcile.
For fans of immersive, character-driven fantasy, this series delivers a rare emotional depth and a haunting atmosphere. It doesn’t offer neat answers, but it poses questions that linger long after the pages are turned—about what it means to be home, and whether we can ever really go back.
#1 · 2016Every Heart a Doorway 
#2 · 2017Down Among the Sticks and Bones 
#3 · 2018Beneath the Sugar Sky 
#4 · 2019In an Absent Dream 
#5 · 2020Come Tumbling Down 
#6 · 2021Across the Green Grass Fields 
#7 · 2022Where the Drowned Girls Go 
#8 · 2023Lost in the Moment and Found 
#9 · 2024Mislaid in Parts Half-Known 
#10 · 2025Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear 
#11 · 2026Through Gates of Garnet and Gold 
#12 · 2027A Song of Sugar Sparrows 
2023Be Sure Be the first reviewer
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