In this YA urban fantasy graphic novel, Alex must return to the town where she was born to unravel the magical mysteries her late grandmother left behind.
ON STARLIT SHORES
by Bex Glendining
Abrams Fanfare, September 2025
Alex Wilson hasn’t been back to Indigo Harbor, the seaside village where she grew up, in years. In fact, she can barely remember anything about it. But when her grandmother dies unexpectedly, Alex will have to return to her childhood home to say goodbye.
Accompanied by her best friend, Grim, Alex travels back to her hometown and begins cleaning out her grandmother’s house, but the longer they stay, the stranger things get. Indigo Harbor isn’t your average town—there are falling stars, witches running tea shops, and a name that comes up again and again: Elizabeth. Who was this woman, and how did she know Alex’s grandmother?
As she explores the town and sorts through her grandmother’s belongings, Alex reconnects with her past and tries with increasing desperation to uncover the greatest secret of all, the identity of the mysterious Elizabeth. Tackling grief, acceptance, and how to honor a loved one’s life, Bex Glendining has crafted a beautiful and moving graphic novel perfect for readers who loved The Dark Matter of Mona Starr, Girl From the Sea, and the Magic Fish.
Bex Glendining is an award-winning, biracial, queer, UK-based illustrator, comic artist, and colorist. Their clients include Netflix, Huffpost, DC Comics, Marvel, Penguin Random House, the New York Times, and NPR. When not working, they can usually be found building miniature rooms, playing video games with friends or fussing Cookie, their very spoilt tortoiseshell cat.

A turtle the size of an island. A cricket that can possess you if swallowed. A giant who turns enemies to stone. The legends of Southeast Asia—or “the lands below the winds,” as explorers used to call it—are populated with a whole menagerie of colorful beasts that inspire awe and fear in equal measure. Yet, passed on as they are through story and song, so many of these stories remain rooted in some long-forgotten past and bound by the borders of the region, creatures of myth and memory and nothing more. Until now.
Alice has been unhappy ever since her parents sent her to Prince Edward Island to live with her strict grandmother. Alice is fanciful, prone to telling tall tales, and absolutely
Fifteen-year-old Hana is bored by her humdrum existence in Tokyo—there must be more to life than cram school and chores. After she rescues a crow caught in a net by her house, a mysterious visitor arrives at her door, offering her the chance to enroll in the most prestigious magic academy in Japan: The Benten School of Esoterics.
Bear knows that when the last leaf falls in the forest, whatever wish you make is sure to come true! Although it’s almost time to sleep, Mama allows Bear to watch and wait with his friends.