When I Was Death
Penguin Young Readers Group · Hardcover · March 3, 2026
A group of girls does Death incarnate's bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel by the author of The Year of the Witching.
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- Who it’s for
- Grief and supernatural dread meet in a story about what survival may cost.
- Themes
- Grief and loss, Death and mortality, Choosing the cost of closure
- Genres
- Paranormal & Supernatural for Teens, YA Horror, Death & Grief for Teens
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A group of girls does Death incarnate's bidding in this haunting speculative young adult novel by the author of The Year of the Witching. Roslyn isn’t herself anymore. It’s been a year since her sister, Adeline, died under mysterious circumstances, and Roslyn is still tormented by her absence. So when the elusive caravan of girls that Adeline spent her last summer with rolls back into town, Roslyn joins them to finally figure out what happened to her sister.
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Strange, beautiful, and intriguing, the girls are closed off from the world. And as it turns out, they’re brought together by a force more sinister than Roslyn’s nightmares could’ve conjured up: Death himself. Death has spared the girls from untimely endings, and to pay for their lives, the girls travel the country reaping souls on his behalf. Now Roslyn must decide if finding closure is worth the price of striking the same deal.
A Grim Bargain
Grief and supernatural dread meet in a story about what survival may cost.
Come here for
- A haunting take on girls bound to Death
- A sister’s search tangled with an uneasy bargain
Expect
- Dark YA fantasy with thriller edges
- An intimate, unsettling mood
Where it sits
| YA Horror | 52% |
|---|---|
| Death & Grief for Teens | 40% |
| Paranormal & Supernatural for Teens | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Dark YA Fantasy
- Paranormal & Supernatural for Teens
- YA Supernatural Thrillers
- Authors
- Alexis Henderson
- Publisher
- Penguin Young Readers Group
- Published
- March 3, 2026
- Format
- Hardcover
- Theme
- Grief and loss · Death and mortality · Choosing the cost of closure
- Reading lane
- Dark YA Fantasy