An impossible door. A thread that punishes lies. A kingdom built from the names children were persuaded to surrender. Eleven-year-old Finn Maddox has learned that being quiet is often safer than being noticed. At school, silence keeps him away from bullies. At home, it keeps him from interrupting his overworked mother. And when his grandmother looks into his face and cannot always remember his name, silence protects him from admitting how much it hurts.
Then a narrow green door appears in a school corridor where no door should exist. From beneath it comes a glowing thread connected to Finn's pencil - a thread that tightens whenever he lies, especially to himself. When an ancient wooden mask steals a treasured memory and carries Finn's unfinished drawing, Mudge, into the world beyond the door, Finn follows. On the other side lies Ghoulridge Hall and the Court of Lost Faces, a place where frightened children are renamed, painful memories are traded away, and masks promise perfect versions of the lives they have lost.
To return home, Finn must recover what was taken without surrendering who he is. But the Court knows his deepest wish: to be seen, remembered, and chosen without having to risk speaking first. And some wishes become monsters when they are fed for too long. The Court of Lost Faces is a dark and imaginative middle-grade portal fantasy about grief, memory, identity, family, and the courage required to remain yourself in a world determined to name you.
An impossible door. A thread that punishes lies. A kingdom built from the names children were persuaded to surrender. Eleven-year-old Finn Maddox has learned that being quiet is often safer than being noticed. At school, silence keeps him away from bullies. At home, it keeps him from interrupting his overworked mother. And when his grandmother looks into his face and cannot always remember his name, silence protects him from admitting how much it hurts.
Then a narrow green door appears in a school corridor where no door should exist. From beneath it comes a glowing thread connected to Finn's pencil - a thread that tightens whenever he lies, especially to himself. When an ancient wooden mask steals a treasured memory and carries Finn's unfinished drawing, Mudge, into the world beyond the door, Finn follows. On the other side lies Ghoulridge Hall and the Court of Lost Faces, a place where frightened children are renamed, painful memories are traded away, and masks promise perfect versions of the lives they have lost.
To return home, Finn must recover what was taken without surrendering who he is. But the Court knows his deepest wish: to be seen, remembered, and chosen without having to risk speaking first. And some wishes become monsters when they are fed for too long. The Court of Lost Faces is a dark and imaginative middle-grade portal fantasy about grief, memory, identity, family, and the courage required to remain yourself in a world determined to name you.
