
In 1915, Violet Farris, a seventeen-year-old half-English, half-Sicilian feminist and skilled card player, flees with her transgender twin brother, Seb, when their father plans to marry them off. A U-boat sinks their ship, and Violet washes up alone on the enemy-held Dalmatian island of Illyria. Disguised as a boy, she works for Teo, an anti-war landowner's son, delivering his love poems to Olivia, but Olivia is drawn to the disguised Violet while Violet falls for Teo. A retelling of Twelfth Night with queer, trans and neurodivergent characters, alternating Violet's narration with verse chapters from Olivia's autistic sister Faustina, a musical prodigy whom a cruel cousin plans to have committed.
Details
| ISBN | 9781536240368 |
|---|---|
| Copyright Date | 2026 |
| Publication Date | September 22, 2026 |
| Publisher | Candlewick |
| Format | Hardcover |
| No. of Pages | 464 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | Retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Ages 14 and up. Kirkus describes both Violet and Olivia as queer; Violet's twin Seb is a trans man. |
| Rating | Good |
| Genre | Historical Fiction; Trans & Gender Identity; YA Fiction (Young Adult) |
| Subject | Autistic people; Dalmatia (Croatia); Disguise; Mistaken identity; Queer young women; Transgender men; Twelfth night -- Adaptations; Twins; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction |