Black Point by West, Jacqueline

In an insular small town steeped in Norse traditions, a local teen grapples with dark secrets from the past rising to the surface in this "spine-tingling thrill ride" (School Library Journal, starred review) by New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline West.

Lucia Sorenson holds on hard to the things she loves. Her tiny hometown clings to the bluffs above the Mississippi River, threatened by weather and time. Unlike most people her age, Lucia plans to stay after graduation and help her grandfather run the Viking Museum of Black Point. Maybe then she can keep everything her ancestors built from washing away.

When the Black Point Hotel, a supposedly haunted local landmark, is bought by an outsider, the town is shaken--and for Lucia, fresh changes arrive in the form of the owner's nephew, Max. As Lucia gets to know Max, she begins to question her role in the town's rituals and to see the place, and herself, with new eyes.

But the town is flooding, and old secrets are rising to the surface. Soon Lucia will have to choose between the home she thought she knew and the hideous truths hidden underneath.

Author: Jacqueline West
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 07/28/2026
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781665981859

Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 05/01/2026 pg. 83
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2026
Publishers Weekly 05/04/2026
Booklist 06/01/2026
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 07/01/2026

About the Author
Jacqueline West is the author of New York Times bestselling The Books of Elsewhere, the Schneider Family Honor Book The Collectors, and Long Lost, winner of the 2022 Minnesota Book Award for Middle Grade Literature. Her other books include Dreamers Often Lie, Last Things, and Black Point.