Hanover Square Press (HarperCollins) will release The Bone Door, the new dark fantasy novel from Frances White, on May 12, 2026. White’s debut, Voyage of the Damned — a fantasy murder mystery at sea — was a USA Today bestseller, an Illumicrate pick, and a Goodreads Choice Award nominee. The Bone Door is her follow-up, and early praise from fellow authors describes it as “gloriously funny and full of heart in the face of unflinching terrors.”
The Bone Door (2026). Courtesy of Hanover Square Press / HarperCollins.
The novel opens with Hop, a young man who wakes up in an ancient labyrinth with no memory of who he is, no explanation for why he is soaked in blood, and no recognition of the six other kids trapped with him. One thing is clear: he must escape. The only path out is the Bone Door, which lies beyond a sequence of locked chambers, each opening into stranger and more dangerous territory — wild terrains teeming with deadly creatures, gothic cathedrals heavy with secrets, and horrors that grow more personal the deeper in Hop ventures. As the group works through the maze, they begin to suspect that they and the labyrinth may be more connected than any of them realized.
Publisher comparisons pitch it as Piranesi meets Gideon the Ninth by way of Dandadan, and the book draws explicit praise from fans of Stranger Things and It — a clear signal for horror audiences who appreciate genre fiction that blends dread with dark humor and found-family warmth.
“The Bone Door is a triumph,” said Gareth Brown, bestselling author of The Book of Doors. “A twisty, brutal fairy tale that both moved and amazed me. I couldn’t put it down.”
The Bone Door by Frances White goes on sale May 12, 2026.
