The Nevermoor Series is a fantasy children's book series written by Australian author Jessica Townsend.
Premise The series centres around Morrigan Crow, a cursed child living in the Wintersea Republic fated to die on the last day of the year, Eventide. When it comes time for her to die on Eventide day, she is saved by Jupiter North and taken to the city of Nevermoor, where Jupiter is a hotel owner and member of the Wundrous Society, a prestigious institution where each member has a "knack", a supernatural ability that allows them to be better than average. Publication Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow was published by Little, Brown and Company on October 10, 2017, in Australia and October 31, 2017, in the United States, with cover art by Jim Madsen. The next book, Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, was released on October 30 and November 13, 2018, in Australia and the U.S., respectively. After a delayed late 2019, and later early 2020 release date, Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow was published on September 29, 2020, in Australia, October 15, 2020, in the United Kingdom, and October 27, 2020, in the United States. All three existing books in the series have been adapted into audiobook format, read by Gemma Whelan. The fourth book, Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow, originally supposed to be released in late 2022, was delayed multiple times, and eventually published in Australia on April 30, 2025. Reception The series has received positive reviews for plot, character development, and themes. Kirkus Reviews said of the first installment in the series, "[it's] not genre-shattering but a solid read for genre fans."
In 2017, film rights to Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow were sold to 20th Century Fox, with Drew Goddard set to produce the movie and write the screenplay. The film later moved to Paramount Pictures with Michael Gracey attached to direct.
Setting The series is set in the city of Jackalfax, in the Wintersea Republic, and the titular city of Nevermoor, in the Free State. Jackalfax, where Morrigan was born and grew up in her childhood home Crow Manor, was founded sometime in the ninth age of the Wintersea Republic, as remarked by Morrigan early in the series. The streets and neighbourhood of the city are neat and orderly, with houses that all look similar and prestigious schools. Nevermoor itself is divided into 27 boroughs, which are further divided into quadrants. In addition to humans and animals, Nevermoor contains Wunimals, which are part animal (called "unnimals" in universe) and part human. Locations in Nevermoor include Proudfoot House, part of the Wunsoc campus where the Elders and the three schools reside; the Hotel Deucalion, the famously successful hotel in which Jupiter, Morrigan, and several others live; the Nevermoorian Opera House, a theatre in which both Dame Chanda Kali and the Angel Israfel have performed; and the Trollosseum, a sports arena used multiple times for different purposes across the series.
Nevermoor contains three law-enforcement forces: the regular police force, colloquially known as "The Stink," the Wundrous Society Investigate Department, which is known as "The Stealth," and the "Silk," the Silver District police. Celebrations throughout the year include Hallowmas and Christmas, and, every Friday in the summer, a festive market called the Nevermoor Bazaar. Two prominent hospitals exist in Nevermoor, the Wundrous Society Teaching Hospital and the Royal Lightwing Hospital. Nevermoor is also home to many "geographic oddities," including Swindleroads, Tricksy Lanes, and Shadowstreets. The River Juro runs through Nevermoor and freezes over during the winter. The Wunderground is a public transportation system running underground and is powered by Wunder, and the Brolly Rail is a Wundrous mode of transportation that requires umbrellas to use and is dangerous.
In Nevermoor, citizens have come to hate Wundersmiths. A century ago Wundersmiths were known to create great things. Examples include a skyscraper made out of water and an amusement park only available to children in one of the poorest Nevermoor boroughs.Aafter a Wundersmith named Ezra Squall killed the other Wundersmiths in an event called the Courage Square Massacre, he was banished from Nevermoor and Wundersmiths became anathema. Morrigan, a Wundersmith herself, escapes Ezra Squall's Hunt of Smoke and Shadow into Nevermoor. However, it is revealed that Squall never intended to kill her, and intends for Morrigan to become his apprentice and heir.
Series overview Nevermoor
Ten-year-old Morrigan Crow is believed by her home-town community of Jackalfax in the Wintersea Republic to be 'cursed' and thus set to die at midnight on Eventide (the book's equivalent of New Year's Day). On the night Morrigan is said to die, Jupiter North, a member of the Wundrous Society, rescues her from the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow, the real source of the supposed curse, and brings her to the magical city of Nevermoor in the Free State. In order to become a citizen of Nevermoor and avoid deportation back to Jackalfax, Morrigan enters a series of Trials (The Book Trial, The Chase Trial, The Fright Trial and The Show Trial) in order to join Unit 919, the newest Unit of the Wundrous Society.
Morrigan, though concerned that she apparently does not have a "knack" or little power, a prerequisite for joining the Wundrous Society, passes the first half of the Book Trial, but struggles with the Nevermoorian History section of the exam and just barely passes, meeting Hawthorne Swift for the first time afterwards. They quickly become best friends.
In the Chase Trial, Morrigan must race against three hundred children to hit one of only one hundred and fifty targets. Morrigan is about to win, and claim an invitation to a prestigious dinner hosted by the High Elders of the Wundrous Society, but she turns back to help a young girl, Cadence Blackburn, who fell off her own animal. Cadence steals the prize from Morrigan through using her knack of mind control on a race official, but later convinces the official to let Morrigan pass just before Morrigan is about to be arrested for illegal immigration.
While at a Hallowmas festival called the Black Parade (the book's equivalent of Halloween), Morrigan and Hawthorne stop to help an old lady who calls for their help, having fallen down into a sewer. Upon Morrigan climbing down into the sewer, the woman vanishes and reappears as a member of the witch group Coven Thirteen, who announces the beginning of the Fright Trial. Both Morrigan and Hawthorne pass the Fright Trial, meeting Cadence again along the way. Morrigan's biggest fear is revealed in the Fright Trial to be getting sent back to Jackalfax and attacked by the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow.
At the Show Trial, where contenders showcase their unique knacks for the Elders, Morrigan believes that she will lose, but Jupiter appears at the last minute. Using his own knack as a 'Witness', (the book's equivalent of an empath) he shares his special ability with the Elders for a brief moment and directs them to look at Morrigan. She immediately passes. When the trials are over, an officer named Inspector Flintlock confronts Jupiter, claiming that as Morrigan has completed the trials and no longer under the legal protection of the Wundrous Society, she is eligible to be deported back to Jackalfax. Jupiter convinces the Elders to give him until the Inauguration Day of Unit 919 to come up with nine signatories on the legal papers (known as a 'Safeguard') that would allow Morrigan to stay.
While riding home with Hawthorne on a train, Morrigan is kidnapped by the Wundersmith Ezra Squall, a man who can control the mysterious energy of Wunder and committed a massacre in Nevermoor one hundred years ago, resulting in his exile from the Free State to the Wintersea Republic. Squall informs her that all cursed children who are born on Eventide, including Morrigan, are Wundersmiths, and he sends the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow after them each year in order to kill them, due to his desire to maintain a monopoly on the balance of Wunder in the Wintersea Republic. However, he sent the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow after Morrigan in order to make her his apprentice.
Wundersmith
Ten-year-old Morrigan Crow is Jupiter finds a ninth signatory for Morrigan's legal papers, and learns that a great singer named Cassiel has mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, Morrigan does not feel that she fits in with the others in Unit 919, and some of the patrons think she should not even be in the Wundrous Society at all. Later, after discovering a new door which has appeared in her hotel room overnight which leads to Unit 919's private train station, Morrigan and the rest of Unit 919 are given a tour by their train conductor, Miss Cheery, where they meet the Scholar Mistress of the Wundrous Society's schooling division. They are also told that the schooling is split into two sections: the Mundane Arts and the Arcane Arts. Morrigan is in the Mundane Arts section. After learning that another important Wundrous Society figure, Paximus Luck, has gone missing, Morrigan begins to worry, a feeling that gets increased when she is put in only one class, that lasts all day, in which she learns about all the heinous crimes committed by past Wundersmiths. Jupiter makes her feel better and arranges another class for her, about navigating the crazy and "ridiculous" streets of Nevermoor. Later, after an encounter with a group of bullies, Morrigan develops a theory that all the people who have gone missing could have been taken to the Ghastly Market, an illegal black market where one can buy things like weapons, or even human beings.
The bullies return, and Morrigan accidentally lets out a blast of fire to keep them from hurting Miss Cheery, getting her in major trouble, then banned from Wunsoc campus so she has to take classes at the Hotel Deucalion. Meanwhile, mysterious notes keep appearing for Unit 919, saying that the unit must meet certain demands or they will "reveal the terrible truth about Unit 919." The unit becomes frantic to meet the requests, but eventually blames their misfortune on Morrigan, thinking that the terrible truth is Morrigan's being a Wundersmith. Morrigan has a brief encounter with the Ghastly Market itself, and she discovers that it actually is real. Afterwards, she gets reaccepted back into the society after the staff of the Hotel Deucalion purposefully annoy Professor Onstald throughout his stay. Morrigan gets lost and ends up meeting Squall again, who shows her how to control Wunder. On Hallowmas, Squall comes to Morrigan again, telling her that her friends—along with Onstald and the Angel Israfel—are in danger of being sold on the Ghastly Market. Morrigan and Hawthorne save them, but Onstald stays behind, sacrificing himself so the others can survive. Later, at a Wundrous Society gathering, Morrigan reveals herself as a Wundersmith as per the last of the blackmail demands, and the Elders reveal that the blackmailing was all a loyalty test to see if the members of Unit 919 could work together.
Hollowpox
Ten-year-old Morrigan Crow is