Never Never: A Tale of Captain Hook

James Bartholomew falls out of his pram as a baby and lands in Never Land. His parents take him back just before he would have become a Lost Boy for good, but the place never quite lets go of him. Growing up in London as a proper gentleman feels to him like slowly being smothered.

He runs away to sea and joins the crew of the pirate Blackbeard, where he learns to be ruthless. In time he commands a ship of his own, and he intends to sail it back to the island that shaped him.

The Odd Sisters and a measure of dark magic help James get what he wants, and he returns to Never Land as a grown man. The homecoming does not match his hopes. The whole world is already waiting for him to fall.

This is a villain origin story, the ninth book in Serena Valentino's Villains series. It follows Captain Hook from a brave, cast-off child to one of Neverland's most notorious enemies, and to the man defined by his feud with Peter Pan.