“Genevieve’s grief is profound . . . necessary fuel for the scary, magical quest that she must undertake.”
SLEIGHT: Book One of the AVRAKEDAVRA
Delia smiles at the shadow only she sees—
Something slams into her. The lyra whirls like a half-dollar spinning on its edge.
My mother is thrown backward.
And she falls.
Growing up in the Cinzio Traveling Players Company, Genevieve Flannery is accustomed to a life most teenagers could never imagine: daily workouts of extravagant acrobatics; an extended family of clowns; wild animals for pets; and her mother, Delia, whose mind has always been tortured by visions—but whose love Geni never questions. In a world of performers who astonish and amaze on a daily basis, Delia’s ghostly hallucinations never seemed all that strange . . . until the evening Geni and her mother are performing an aerial routine they’ve done hundreds of times, and Delia falls to her death.
That night, a dark curtain in Geni’s life opens. Everything has changed.
Still reeling from the tragedy, the Cinzio Traveling Players are also adjusting to the circus’s new owner: a generous, mysterious man whose connection to the circus—Geni suspects—has a dark and dangerous history. And suddenly Geni is stumbling into a new reality of her own, her life interrupted daily by the terrors only Delia used to be able to see.
As the visions around her grow stronger, Geni isn’t sure who she can trust. Even worse, she’s starting to question whether she can trust her own mind.
A thrilling and mysterious novel that captures the magic of the big top itself, Sleight is a high-flying fantasy adventure sure to dazzle and delight.
Something to note … Sleight has had a few lives.
A version of this book was published in 2011 (first with a smoke-curl image (my photography), then we rebranded with a red-haired girl lying on grass.
In 2012, SLEIGHT was sold to HarperCollins Canada and went through four years of editorial work before publishing in March 2018 (the fantastical blue cover). This version is a top-to-bottom reimagining of the original story published in 2011. Sky Pony Press released Sleight in April 2018.
In 2024, the Canadian rights for both Sleight and Scheme were reverted to me, and I will be reissuing with my vision for the covers!
The American publisher has, at this writing in May 2025, not reverted rights. The US version is in hardcover and I was so lucky to have Sarah Coleman (InkyMole) do the stunning artwork for both Sleight and her sequel, Scheme.
The Undoing = Scheme
At the last minute, HarperCollins Canada opted to publish The Undoing, Sleight’s sequel, as an ebook only, which was disappointing, but then the pandemic hit, so even the hardcovers for Scheme (from Sky Pony) sat in the Simon & Schuster warehouse in Tennessee until October.
Sleight, summer 2025, SGA Books. Available in paperback and ebook. Stay tuned for buy links!
“This absolutely thrilling novel has everything a good book needs, with lots of mystery, adventure, magic and evil, and even a twinge of romance.”
“Exciting and engaging . . . readers will definitely look forward to the next volume.”
Vérité: The key to good is found in truth.
Eileen Cook, bestselling author of YOU OWE ME A MURDER:
“Fantasy readers will fall in love with SLEIGHT. Like a circus, it's an intoxicating mix of beauty, humor, magic, and danger that means the reader can't bear to look away until the final page.
Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of the GONE SERIES:
“Jennifer Sommersby’s SLEIGHT makes magic from an enthralling premise, wonderfully drawn characters, and beautiful words. It's hard to avoid descriptors like entrancing, spell-binding, and mystical .”
Ira Bloom, author of HEARTS & OTHER BODY PARTS:
“Startlingly imaginative and vividly realized.”