They Will Bring You Shiny Things

Ghiselle is an active, inquisitive, typical six-year-old with a single mother, a new home in a new town, and an unkindly set of friends that inhabit a tree in the backyard. The ebony birds are intelligent, entertaining, and have an unsettling interest in Ghiselle, who enjoys their antics and their attention. Her mother regards it as one of the usual childhood rituals until the ravens start retaliating against people and animals that present risks to them . . . and Ghiselle. The attraction between Ghiselle and the unkindness becomes deeper and deeper, and her mother finds herself being closed out inch by inch. The birds bring her trinkets, Shiny ones. A collective of ravens is called an unkindness for a reason.