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When the Sky Fell on Splendor

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What to expect

The Serpent King meets Stranger Things in Emily Henry’s gripping novel about a group of friends in a small town who find themselves dealing with unexpected powers after a cosmic event.

Almost everyone in the small town of Splendor, Ohio, was affected when the local steel mill exploded. If you weren’t a casualty of the accident yourself, chances are a loved one was. That’s the case for seventeen-year-old Franny, who, five years after the explosion, still has to stand by and do nothing as her brother lies in a coma.

In the wake of the tragedy, Franny found solace in a group of friends whose experiences mirrored her own. The group calls themselves The Ordinary, and they spend their free time investigating local ghost stories and legends, filming their exploits for their small following of YouTube fans. It’s silly, it’s fun, and it keeps them from dwelling on the sadness that surrounds them.

Until one evening, when the strange and dangerous thing they film isn’t fiction—it’s a bright light, something massive hurtling toward them from the sky. And when it crashes and the teens go to investigate … everything changes.

Critics Review

“A vivid and multilayered story sure to turn the staunchest of Scullys into a Mulder. I am obsessed with this book.”

David Arnold, New York Times bestselling author

“A thrilling read that is as twisty and spooky as it is profound and evocative. Emily Henry’s prose is haunting and poignant, and her characters are so real and relatable that I started missing them as soon as I set the book down.”

Romina Russell, New York Times bestselling author

“A fun, suspenseful story about teenagers exploring the paranormal.”

VOYA

“[An] exquisite, genre-bending novel…Fast-paced and intricately plotted, the story rockets toward an unexpected, sublime conclusion.”

Booklist

“Amara Jasper’s frank delivery transports listeners to Splendor, Ohio…Jasper’s gruff narration captures the pervasive heartache of Splendor’s residents in the years since the explosion, while her tone speaks to the danger the young protagonists face as they grapple with the consequences of their otherworldly encounter…Jasper’s pacing builds tension, while her characterizations focus on the young people’s quest to find warmth in unusual bonds.”

AudioFile

“Readers will be drawn to this fast-paced page-turner. Henry has crammed plenty of atmospheric, small-town spookiness into her book.”

School Library Journal

“The alien mystery is compelling, but this story’s heart beats with Franny and her friends. Franny’s recollections of her family before the tragedy are poignant, and Henry tackles profound loss and grief with sensitivity while emphasizing the preciousness of human connection in this vast and wondrous universe.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Eerie, intriguing, and full of hold-your-breath moments, When the Sky Fell on Splendor is a thrilling and heartfelt portrayal of how true friendship can fill otherwise ordinary lives with splendor.”

Parker Peevyhouse, author of Where the Futures End
Author Emily Henry
Narrator Amara Jasper
Duration 11 hours and 4 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781982612016
Format Audiobook
Publisher Blackstone Publishing
Genre Children’s / Teenage fiction: Magical realism, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Science fiction
Availability US

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