Hollow Chest

Debut author Brita Sandstrom arrives with anunforgettable modern folktale of the darkness around and inside us, and thecourage it takes to keep hope alive.

"Hollow Chest is remarkable on so many levels--itsexquisite writing, its startling originality, its deep empathy. An astonishingdebut." --Anne Ursu, award-winning author of The Lost Girl

Charlie has been having nightmares. Eyes watching him in thenight, claws on his chest, holding him down. His dreams have been haunted foryears, ever since German bombs rained down on London, taking his father's life, taking his city's spirit, taking his beloved brother, Theo, off to war inFrance.

Now Charlie is left to take care of his grandpa Fitz while his motherworks, waiting for the day when Theo will come home. And with World War IInearly won, that day is almost here. Grandpa Fitz warns Charlie that soldierssometimes come back missing a piece of themselves, but Charlie isn't worried.Whatever Theo has lost, Charlie will help him find it.

When Theo finally does return, though, he is cold anddistant. But Charlie refuses to accept that the brother he knew is gone, andsoon, he discovers the reason for his brother's change: war wolves. Terrifyingancient beasts who consume the hearts of those broken by grief.

The wolves have followed soldiers back home from the front.And if Charlie truly wants to save Theo, he's going to have to find them andget his brother's heart back. But can a heart that's been eaten ever bereplaced?