Whichwood

Laylee is thirteen and the last mordeshoor in Whichwood, a wintry town. It falls to her alone to wash and prepare the dead for their passage to the Otherwhere. Her mother has died and her father has gone, and the work is exhausting and gets no thanks.

Her hands and hair are turning silver, and she is certain she is dying. She tells no one and keeps working.

Then Alice and Oliver arrive from Ferenwood, two familiar faces from Furthermore. They offer help, and Laylee wants none of it. While she turns them away, the dead of Whichwood go untended, and their ghosts start to wreak havoc on the town in her defence.

This middle-grade fantasy is a companion to Furthermore, with a Persian-inspired setting. A narrator talks straight to the reader, offering asides, footnotes and warnings. The tone is darkly whimsical and a little ghoulish, with tender moments throughout.

The question is whether a lonely girl, worn down by grief, can let anyone close before the town's restless ghosts and her own failing body take over.