The Shadow Sister

May 1, 2023
Biracial (Black and white) teenager Casey attempts to unearth the mysterious circumstances behind her lighter-skinned older sister Sutton’s disappearance and sudden return in Meade’s pulse-pounding supernatural debut. Though Casey and Sutton have never gotten along, she’s devastated when Sutton vanishes. But as her parents and their affluent Seattle community initiate a search and rescue, Casey can’t help but feel that there’s something off. Casey grows even more suspicious when Sutton miraculously returns seeming like a ghost of her former self and claiming no memory of her life beyond Casey. Her investigation into Sutton’s situation brings up two other Black girls in Seattle who have disappeared in recent months. And when Casey’s Black best friend goes missing, Casey and Sutton must work together to save her. Dual POVs alternate between Casey’s present-day voice and Sutton’s, whose chapters chronicle wide-ranging years before her disappearance. Through their developing perspectives, Meade unveils the past between two feuding sisters and how the social politics within their community affected their relationship, weaving a speculative mystery and an ode to sisterhood that confronts systemic injustice alongside issues of colorism and individual and communal identity. Ages 14–up. Agent: Elana Roth Parker, Laura Dail Literary.