Selkies & Skeptics [Cold, Elias]

Author: Elias Cold

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THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN A LIE?
THE TRUTH WITH TEETH.

Sixteen-year-old Luella is trapped in an isolated lighthouse with only her cruel father for company--he turns off the beacon for every twenty-fifth ship that passes, then makes her dive for riches in the resulting wreckage.

Luella desperately longs for friends and freedom, so when she spots a newspaper ad for The Society for the Protection of Faeries, she grasps for the opportunity to escape. She writes in, claiming selkies live on the island to entice the group to come . . . and to her surprise, they do.

To back the lie, Luella fakes faerie magic, convincing the Society that the seals on her island are actually selkies, and they induct her as a member. She takes quickly to a world of traveling in carriages, garden parties, and friends her own age, but Luella can never come clean about her deception if she wants to keep her new life. Soon she realizes she is not the only liar. There's an imposter among them, someone who possesses real magic and sabotages her friends' discoveries--and without evidence, they will soon run out of funding. The imposter knows Luella's lying too, and if she dares to unmask them, they'll ruin her new life with the Society for good.

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers (MPS)
Published: 11/17/2026
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.06oz
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9798890034960

About the Author
Elias Cold (they/them) is a speculative fiction writer, editor, and former medical geneticist. Their work tends to center queer and neurodivergent characters and has appeared in Rabbit Journal and Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. They live in rural Australia with their two cats. They're the author of The Duke Steals Hearts and Other Body Parts.