Where The Crows Wait

Some houses whisper. Others wait. This one calls.

When twelve-year-old Rue moves to a suburb lined with perfect white houses and identical green lawns, something about her new street feels off. Too clean. Too still. Too quiet. Except for the house across the road—the one that doesn’t match. The one hidden behind a rusted spiral gate and walls of tangled vines. The one no one talks about. The one Rue can’t stop seeing.

Then the crows come.

Mysterious black shapes begin to appear at Rue’s window, their eyes fixed on her. Gifts are left behind—a feather, a marble, a flash of poppy red. Rue starts recording everything in a notebook she calls The Ledger. She’s certain the house is trying to tell her something. And she’s certain she’s the only one who can hear it.

But when her connection to the house grows deeper, Rue’s sense of reality starts to slip. Her best friend turns distant. Her dog begins to panic at the gate. And her obsession with the spiral, the symbols, and the crows begins to blur the line between understanding and unraveling.

Part gothic mystery, part psychological coming-of-age, Where the Crows Wait is a lyrical middle-grade novel that explores the fine threads between grief, identity, and imagination.

Perfect for readers who loved Coraline, The Nest, or The Secret Garden, this quiet, unsettling novel captures the feeling of being caught between two worlds: the one you’re told is real—and the one you feel in your bones.

• A perfect classroom read for grades 5–8
• Themes of mental health, intuition, isolation, and wonder
• Includes symbolism study potential: spirals, gates, birds, notebooks, poppies
• If you’re drawn to stories that unfold like a secret and leave you with more questions than answers—Where the Crows Wait is already waiting for you.