It was a dark and stormy night (well, it was actually an unusually warm evening in Edinburgh, Scotland) when New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab proposed an absurd idea to longtime friend and screenwriter Cat Clarke: that they should write a book together. V had made quite a name for herself, with more than 20 books, including the Shades of Magic series, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, but had sworn she'd never co-write a novel, let alone one without fantasy. While Cat, following a tumultuous career as an editor and the author of several YA novels, including Girlhood and Entangled, had fled the publishing industry to work in the even more tumultuous film industry, swearing she'd never return to books. And yet, fate—and an irresistible idea—made liars of them both. That night, as they switched from tea to something stronger, Evelyn Clarke was born.