Patricia Ward was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Her father was American, and her mother is Lebanese, of Armenian/Danish heritage. The family moved to the United States when Patricia was 18. She obtained a BA from Sarah Lawrence and MFA from University of Michigan.

Her first novel, The Bullet Collection (Graywolf 2003), is about two sisters growing up in wartime Beirut. It received the GLCA New Writers Award, Anahid Literary Award, and Hala Maksoud Award for Outstanding Emerging Writer. For this novel Patricia adopted her mother’s maiden name Sarrafian, as a way to honor and preserve it.

Her second novel, Skinner Luce, is an urban fantasy published by Talos Press in January 2016.

Her third novel, The Cherished, is forthcoming April 2023 from HarperCollins.

Ward is also an accomplished book artist whose work has been shown in several galleries in the Boston area. She also had a solo show at the Center for Book Arts in NYC, among others.

She lives in Vermont with her husband and son.

For fans of White Smoke, The Hazel Wood, and Wilder Girls comes an original, hypnotizing horror thriller in the vein of Midsommar, as one girl inherits a mysterious house from her estranged grandmother—and a letter with sinister instructions.

Jo never expected to be placed in her absent grandmother’s will—let alone be left her house, her land, and a letter with mysterious demands.

Upon arriving at the inherited property, things are even more strange.

The tenants mentioned in the letter are odd, just slightly…off. Jo feels something dark and decrepit in the old shack behind the house. And the things that her father used to talk about, his delusions… Why is Jo starting to believe they might be real?

But what Jo fears most is the letter from her grandmother. Because if it’s true, then Jo belongs here, in this strange place. And she has no choice but to stay.

BookSparks is working in conjunction with HarperTeen.