The Girl in the White Cape: A Novel

In the Richmond district of San Francisco, Elena, 15, resides in a church attic and is under the care of Father Al. She attends Baba Veras's unconventional school six days a week, where she learns unsettling lessons. Elena is determined to succeed despite Baba Veras's strange demands and the bizarre atmosphere of her house. When Frank, a young taxi driver, delivers Anya to Our Lady, a dream-world begins to spin for him, and he feels a deep connection to Elena. He realizes that she has her own magic and together they may be able to save each other.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 25 July 2023
Publisher: She Writes Press

Fifteen-year-old Elena resides in a church attic in San Francisco's Richmond neighborhood, where she is under the care of her guardian, a compassionate Russian priest named Father Al. Every weekday, Father Al sends her to Our Lady, across the meadows and ponds of Golden Gate Park, and all the way to Baba Veras house on Taraval Street for Baba's version of school. Unlike regular school, however, Elena's learning is unsettling. Baba Veras' preposterous demands, dizzying antics, and house, which is full of skeletons, brooms, strange implements, and guinea pigs, among other oddities, seem straight out of a Russian fairy tale Father Al used to read to Elena. It's not life in 2020. If not for her beloved doll, Kukla—bequeathed to her by the mother she never got to know, but of whom she often dreams—Elena would be overwhelmed. Yet, she works diligently at every task given to her, understanding intuitively that there is a purpose to every one of her grandmother's strange assignments.

On the day he delivers a strange, witch-like woman named Anya to Our Lady, a young taxi driver named Frank enters Elena's world. When he meets Anya and Elena, a dream-world begins to spin for him, and he feels a deep, protective pull toward Elena. In the days that follow, Frank dedicates himself to saving her from the harm he is sure Anya intends toward her. What he comes to understand, as he enters more deeply into Elena's story, is that she has magic of her own. He thought he was supposed to save her—but in the end, the two of them may just save each other.

Dimension: 215 x 139 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781647425036