Strangely Beautiful: Volume 1

Miss Persephone Parker—known as Percy—is different, with her lustrous, snow-white hair, pearlescent pale skin, and uncanny ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Seeking to continue her education, Percy has come to Queen Victoria's London, to the Athens Academy. What she will learn there will change her life forever.

Athens Academy is the citadel of The Guard, an ancient order that battles the forces of evil. The Victorian Guard, led by professor Alexi Rychman, is incomplete. They cannot defeat Jack the Ripper—who is more than the serial killer he appears to be—or the greater monster his appearance heralds.

Percy's lifelong habit of concealment combined with Alexi's fevered search for the Guard's missing seventh nearly prove disastrous as ancient Greek myths begin playing out in modern, gaslit, Victorian London. Percy and her new friends and allies must overcome their preconceptions about each other and their own histories before they can set the world to rights.

Praise for The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

"An ethereal, lyrical story that combines myth, spiritualism and the gothic in lush prose and sweeping passion." —Kathryn Smith, USA Today–bestselling author

"Hieber's debut shows great potential, and readers will want to revisit her intriguing world." — Publishers Weekly

"Suspenseful, otherworldly . . . strange in its happenings and mood and beautiful in its romance and language." — Booklist