Pre-release: Expected July 8, 2025
0 of 1 copy available
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When Lara Williams gets a summer job aboard the luxury train the Banebury, she thinks she’s landed a five-star escape from her past. Even after she learns that her ex-friend Rhys, who she definitely did not have feelings for before their relationship imploded, is one of her coworkers, she’s determined to make things work.
But on the first day of their journey, the trip takes a strange turn. Two mysterious carriages filled with an array of beautiful and rare plants are attached to the Banebury in the middle of the night.
And with them comes a pair of siblings. Wealthy, mysterious, and charismatic, Gwen and Gwydion claim the plants they’re transporting are for research, but Lara can’t shake the feeling that there’s something . . . otherworldly about the strange blooms. Something that will stop at nothing to ensure the Banebury never reaches its destination.
Soon Lara will learn: You can’t outrun your troubles. You have to grab them by their roots. And if she can’t unearth the secrets of the Banebury, they might drag her down for good. . . .
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
July 8, 2025 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593814338
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593814338
- File size: 4410 KB
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Accessibility
The publisher provides the following statement about the accessibility of the EPUB file supplied to OverDrive. Experiences may vary across reading systems. After borrowing the book, you may download the EPUB files to read in another reading system.
Summary
This ebook features mark-up that supports accessibility and enables compatibility with assistive technology. It has been designed to allow display properties to be modified by the reader. The file includes a table of contents, a defined reading order, and ARIA roles to identify key sections and improve the reading experience. A page list and page break locations help readers coordinate with the print edition. Headings allow readers to navigate the ebook quickly by level. Images are well described in conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Colors meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA contrast standards. There are no hazards.
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Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and font size, spaces between paragraphs, sentences, words, and letters, as well as color of background and text).
All content can be read as read aloud speech or dynamic braille.
Has alternative text descriptions for images.
Conformance
The publication contains a conformance statement that it meets the EPUB Accessibility and WCAG 2 Level AA standard.
This publication claims to meet EPUB Accessibility 1.1 WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Navigation
Table of contents to all chapters of the text via links.
Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation.
Additional Information
Page breaks included
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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May 15, 2025
Trapped on a luxurious transcontinental train, a girl fights for her life against an ancient entity. After a spell of difficulties, Londoner Lara Williams, who's half Welsh and half English, is relieved to be starting a two-week off-season position on the luxury train theBanebury. Since her exams went poorly, she's taking a gap year before university, so she can retake them. Welcome though the job is, she's unsettled to find that her former friend Rhys, who's Welsh, is also working on the train. Though they used to be close, they haven't spoken in months. Among the small number of passengers on the trip from Cardiff, Wales, to Tallinn, Estonia, are wealthy Welsh siblings Gwendolyn and Gwydion Llewellyn, whose carriages are off limits to staff; scientist Gwen is transporting "organic samples" to Eastern Europe. The journey goes from odd (overnight, ivy vines grow rapidly, creeping across the floors of carriages, and Lara hears "soft and hypnotic, almost somnolent" whispering) to frightening (people are taken ill with terrifying plant-related maladies). Everything is seemingly connected to the mysterious Llewellyns. When Lara investigates, she finds a powerful presence from Welsh folklore, one with whom she has an unexpected connection. Weaving flashbacks to Lara's relationship with a boyfriend who exercised coercive control over her into the developing situation on the train, this engaging, well-paced novel explores horrors both supernatural and very much of this world. Dark, page-turning, folkloric horror.(Horror. 14-18)COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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June 1, 2025
Grades 9-12 After a series of personal tragedies leaves her friendless and aimless, Lara Williams finds herself uprooted, wanting nothing more than to escape the mess that's become her life. So when she gets the chance to work aboard the Banebury, a luxury train traveling through the lush European countryside, she jumps at the opportunity, determined to at least run away in style. Not even the unexpected presence of an old, maybe-sort-of flame among her fellow crew members can dampen her spirits. But shortly into the voyage, a mysterious set of siblings boards the Banebury, bringing two carriages overflowing with strange, beautiful flora--and an ancient, ominous force waiting to take root. Inspired by Welsh mythology and combining elements of folk horror and dark academia, Goldsmith cultivates a fierce, frightening fantasy that draws powerful parallels between folkloric tragedy and the grim mundanity of modern misogyny. Predatory Natures grafts itself into the flourishing genre of botanical horror, joining the ranks of Krystal Sutherland's House of Hollow (2021) and Andrea Hannah's Where Darkness Blooms (2023).COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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