Down Among the Sticks and Bones
core novella 2017 Wayward Children
Record
| First published | 2017 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novella |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.13 (60,516 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 187 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780765392039 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
Down Among the Sticks and Bones turns back the clock to tell the earlier story of twin sisters Jacqueline and Jillian Wolcott, whose restrictive, image-conscious upbringing leaves them starved for any place to simply be themselves. When the twins discover a door leading to the Moors, a shadowy world populated by vampires, mad scientists, and other gothic figures, each sister is drawn down a markedly different path once inside, taken under the wing of a separate mentor whose influence reshapes how she comes to see herself. The novella follows Jack and Jill's diverging experiences in the Moors, laying the groundwork for the very different young women later readers meet elsewhere in the series.
Where it sits
- Universe: Wayward Children
- Series: Wayward Children core; position 2 of 11 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Seanan McGuire
Notes
- From the series record (Wayward Children): Core Canon = all 11 published novellas (Tor.com/Tordotcom, 2016-2026), per the collection/short-form-as-Core precedent (this series' primary reading unit has always been the novella, not the novel). Book 12, "A Song of Sugar Sparrows" (planned January 2027), is announced but unpublished as of 2026-08-11 -- isn't counted here yet; watch for its publication.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Wayward Children: position 2 of 11: previous Every Heart a Doorway (2016) · next Beneath the Sugar Sky (2018)
Sources
← Wayward Children dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.