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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Pages
382
Published
2011
Language
English

Synopsis

After a family tragedy, sixteen-year-old Jacob Portman travels to a remote island off the coast of Wales to investigate the stories his grandfather told him as a child — impossible tales of a home for children with strange abilities, and of the monsters that hunted them. Jacob had long dismissed the stories as fairy tales and the yellowed photographs that accompanied them as tricks. But on the island he discovers the crumbling ruin of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and, through it, something far stranger and more real than he imagined.

The peculiar children are still there, preserved within a single day that repeats endlessly, watched over by the pipe-smoking, bird-shapeshifting Miss Peregrine. As Jacob comes to understand his own connection to them — and the danger that his arrival has reawakened — he must choose between the ordinary life he knew and a hidden world under threat.

Built around a haunting collection of genuine vintage photographs, Ransom Riggs's debut is an atmospheric young-adult fantasy about grief, belonging, and the peculiar gifts that set us apart. It is the first book in a bestselling series.

About the author

R
Ransom Riggs

Ransom Riggs is an American novelist and filmmaker, born in Maryland and raised in Florida. He studied English literature at Kenyon College and film at the University of Southern California. He began with short films and blogging, then wrote The Sherlock Holmes Handbook (2009). His first novel, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011), built its story around vintage found photographs and grew into a series of novels and companion books, adapted as a 2016 film directed by Tim Burton. He...

Characters

Jacob PortmanProtagonist

A teenager who discovers the world his grandfather described was real.

Miss PeregrineSupporting

The bird-shapeshifting guardian of the home.

Emma BloomSupporting

A peculiar girl who can conjure fire.

Abraham PortmanSupporting

Jacob's grandfather, whose stories set the plot in motion.

Olive Abroholos ElephantaSupporting
All characters in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Frequently asked questions

  • Are the photographs in the book real?

    The images featured throughout the narrative are authentic, vintage found photographs that the author collected from flea markets, antique shops, and private archives to serve as the visual foundation for the story.

  • How does the film adaptation compare to the book?

    The 2016 film directed by Tim Burton adapts the core premise of the novel but introduces significant changes, including the addition of characters not present in the source material and a shift in focus toward visual spectacle over the book's original atmospheric tone.

  • Did the author intend to write a novel from the start?

    The project was originally conceived as a picture book of the author's vintage photography collection, but his editor at Quirk Books suggested building a narrative around the images, which led to the development of the story.

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