Strange Is A Hazard Here

Some mothers don't raise daughters-they remake them"What if this time I die?"-Jocelyn dreads her birthdays.Each odd-numbered year, on the eve of her birthday, she struggles to breathe-as if something inside her is being taken away. Her mother, Idris, insists it's a flaw in Jocelyn herself.But Idris has a secret.A self-taught sorceress obsessed with perfection, she uses magic to remove Jocelyn's "undesirable" moods -anger, sadness, defiance-essential parts of her very spirit-and traps them in balloons, determined to raise a flawless child.Over time, as Jocelyn's essential spirits are removed-those qualities that make her who she really is-she becomes a pale shadow of her true self.Inside a house ruled by rigid expectations, strange rules, and a mother who calls control "love," Jocelyn must navigate fear, isolation, and the growing sense that something is deeply wrong.And, as Jocelyn approaches her thirteenth birthday, she must decide: Will she surrender to her mother's control-or reclaim the parts of herself that were taken?