A Study in Drowning
A gothic dark-academia fantasy from Ava Reid: architecture student Effy Sayre wins a contest to redesign the crumbling estate of her late literary idol, Emrys Myrddin, only to clash with Preston Héloury, a scholar bent on exposing Myrddin as a fraud. As they dig into the manor's secrets, the line between folklore and reality begins to blur. Book one of the A Study in Drowning duology.
The country's most celebrated author, whose epic Angharad shapes Effy's life; his legacy and possible fraud are the mystery Effy and Preston investigate at his former estate, Hiraeth Manor.
Emrys Myrddin's son and the current caretaker of Hiraeth Manor, determined to protect his father's legacy; his controlling, possessive behavior toward Effy is a recurring source of tension.
Yes. A Theory of Dreaming (2025) is the second and final book in Ava Reid's duology, concluding Effy and Preston's story.
It was a finalist for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction, but it did not win.
It's published as young adult and generally recommended for readers 14 and up. It deals with heavier themes including trauma, abuse, and sexual assault, so it skews toward older teen and adult readers.