The Briar family gave the Nomeolvides women safe haven from accusations of witchcraft long ago in exchange for their labor. Generations of Nomeolvides created La Pradera’s beautiful gardens with their gift for calling their namesakes from the soil. But La Pradera also holds the Nomeolvides hostage: They will die if they leave the land, and those they love will be consumed by the earth unless they are sent away. Gloria, Azelia, Dahlia, Estrella, and Calla Nomeolvides all love Bay Briar, who recently inherited La Pradera. They hold their feelings close not only for Bay’s safety but to avoid each of their mothers’ certain disapproval. When Fel appears out of the soil at La Pradera, he is barely more than a boy. Brown-skinned, like the Mexican American Nomeolvides, Fel’s hands are calloused, his body thin and scarred. He knows nothing of his past. Estrella’s cousins think of Fel as a brother; Estrella finds he sparks other feelings in her. The arrival of arrogant Reid Briar, challenging Bay’s inheritance, sets a string of events into motion that illuminates Fel’s past and the tragic history of La Pradera rooted in racism, classism, and privilege. The Briars sought to cover it in flowers; the land demands justice. A lush, lyrical, mesmerizing work of magical realism also delves deeply into the heart, providing affirmation and solace for those who simply and profoundly are who they are and love whom they love. (Age 14 and older)

In Wild Beauty, acclaimed YA author Anna-Marie McLemore introduces a spellbinding setting and two characters who are drawn together by fate—and pulled apart by reality.

Love grows such strange things.

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens.

The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.

Anna-Marie McLemore's debut novel The Weight of Feathers garnered fabulous reviews and was a finalist for the prestigious YALSA Morris Award, and her second novel, When the Moon was Ours, was longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Praise for Wild Beauty:

“No one does magical realism quite like McLemore, and this third novel, laced with slow-burning suspense, folklore, romance, and spun together with exquisite, luxuriant prose, proves it. . . . Sheer magic: fierce, bright, and blazing with possibility.” —Booklist, starred review

"A solid, must-have addition to McLemore’s growing body of work, this fantastical tale will delight her fans and entice a new audience." —School Library Journal, starred review