The Echo Gallery

Some families bury their secrets. The Blackwoods built an entire house on top of theirs.

Thirteen-year-old Iris Blackwood has spent years trying to make herself smaller-quieter, neater, and easier for everyone around her to accept. But at Blackwood Manor, her family's pressure to be perfect becomes impossible to ignore. Whenever the criticism inside her head grows too loud, the edges of Iris's body begin to fade, turning transparent as though the world is slowly erasing her.

After her grandmother's death, Iris and her parents move to the family's storm-battered estate on the mysterious island of Morrowmere. The manor is filled with whispering walls, altered photographs, painted-over relatives, and an east wing that no one is permitted to enter. When Iris discovers a strange brass key hidden inside her mother's jewelry box, she becomes convinced that the forbidden wing holds the truth about Julian Blackwood, the artist her family tried to remove from its history.

With her fourteen-year-old friend Leo beside her, Iris unlocks Julian's abandoned studio and discovers paintings that breathe, shift, and expose the emotions her family has spent generations hiding. Beneath the studio lies an even greater secret: the Echo Gallery, a vast underground corridor where every locked door contains a living manifestation of the Blackwood family's swallowed anger, inherited shame, and obsession with appearances.

The deeper Iris and Leo travel, the more aggressively the gallery fights to separate them. To escape, Iris must learn that Leo can support her, but he cannot be responsible for keeping her whole. She must decide for herself which voices deserve to shape her-and whether she is ready to stop apologizing for taking up space.

The Echo Gallery is a whimsical and atmospheric fantasy about body image, friendship, inherited family wounds, and the courage to become visible. Written for readers ages 12-14, it blends gothic mystery, magical realism, emotional adventure, and an unforgettable world where silence has weight, mirrors cannot always be trusted, and speaking the truth may be the most powerful magic of all.