In his stunning novels of magic and danger in the modern world, Charles de Lint has brought an entire imaginary North American city to vivid life: Newford, where magic lights the dark streets, myths walk clothed in modern shapes, and a broad cast of extraordinary people work to keep the whole world turning. At the center of it all stands a young artist named Jilly Coppercorn, with her tangled hair and paint-splattered jeans, whose paintings capture the hidden beings that dwell in the city’s shadows.

Now, at last, de Lint tells Jilly’s own story; for behind the painter’s fey charm lies a dark secret that she’s labored to forget. “I’m the onion girl,” Jilly Coppercorn says. “Pull back the layers of my life, and you won’t find anything at the core. Just a broken child. A hollow girl. She’s very, very good at running—but the past has come to claim her now.”

CHARLES DE LINT’s evocative novels, including Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and Widdershins, have earned him a devoted following and critical acclaim as a master of contemporary magical fiction in the tradition of storytellers like John Crowley, Jonathan Carroll, Alice Hoffman, Ray Bradbury, and Isabel Allende. He and his wife, the artist MaryAnn Harris, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.