Never Never: A Tale of Captain Hook
As an infant, James Bartholomew fell from his pram into Never Land, and was reclaimed by his parents just before the transformation into a Lost Boy would have been permanent. He never really leaves Never Land behind, even back in London, where growing into a proper gentleman feels like a slow suffocation.
So he runs, first to sea under the pirate Blackbeard, where he learns to be ruthless, and eventually to a ship of his own, one he means to sail back to the place that shaped him. With the Odd Sisters and a measure of dark magic in play, James gets his wish to return to Never Land, but coming back as an adult, with the whole world already rooting for his downfall, is not the homecoming he imagined.
Ninth in Serena Valentino's Villains series, Never Never traces Captain Hook's transformation from a brave, discarded child into one of Neverland's most infamous enemies, and into the man whose feud with Peter Pan will define him.
A boy briefly claimed by Never Land as an infant, who grows up to become the pirate Captain Hook.
The pirate captain who takes James on and teaches him to become ruthless at sea.
The recurring witches of Valentino's Villains series, who help James find his way back to Never Land.
While this book functions as a standalone origin story for Captain Hook, it is the ninth installment in a series that features recurring characters known as the Odd Sisters who influence the fates of various villains throughout the collection. Readers familiar with the broader series will recognize these magical figures and their ongoing role in the narrative arc of the franchise.