“Whispers of Ink and Starlight” by Garett Curbow

“Somewhere between the ages of twelve and twenty-one, he lost the superpower to make mundane things magical,” writes Garrett Curbow about protagonist James Finch, in Curbow’s debut novel Whispers of Ink and Starlight (Lake Union 2026) . This fantastical book aims at re-enlivening that magical capacity—for James, and for the reader.

James is a student and part-time newspaper reporter from the small town of Lincoln, Georgia, who longs to veer away from a pragmatic future laid out by his parents, toward his dreams of writing full-time in New York City. At a fateful, town-wide Fourth of July celebration he meets Nelle—a beautiful, lively, innocent-seeming young woman with whom he senses an instant connection.

Surprised by the fact that he has never seen her before, despite their being the same age and growing up in the same small town, James decides to investigate. Nelle, who has no phone, gives as her address the house of a known recluse—bestselling author Wallace Quill, who lost his wife and daughter in a house fire two decades prior and isn’t believed to have any remaining family.

Over a series of clandestine visits, Nelle explains to James the circumstances of her unusual existence. Quill, she reveals, is not really her father: one night, reeling from the despair of losing his family, Quill wrote a description of a baby girl. The next morning, Nelle appeared—whole, crying, alive—in the crib of Quill’s deceased daughter, Eleanor.

Nelle explains that as a written character, rather than a biological human being, she can breathe, talk, move, and act, but her physical movements—even within a structure or a small area—are directly controlled by the words that Quill writes for her, scribed in the actual ink that runs through her veins in the place of blood. If Nelle attempts to move outside these written bounds, her legs lock, and she is immobile. Nelle even incises her own flesh to demonstrate, bleeding black ink onto James’s hands, shocking him into understanding.

At a climactic moment during one of these visits, James assists Nelle in a daring escape-by-night that sees the duo fleeing Quill, and Lincoln, together.

Nelle’s newfound freedom stokes James’s own restlessness. Inspired by Nelle’s budding sense of spontaneity, he contrives to show her the world. A tenderness develops, and deepens, as they travel. It is a slow, measured romance, informed by their shared inexperience. At times it reads too slow; James, a romantic soul, insists the duo wait an excruciating amount of time before conceding even a first kiss, as though he wishes to script the experience.

Demons follow the pair: Quill can sense Nelle’s location and shows up more than once to warn her against assuming greater control over her own life. Cracks also develop in James’s and Nelle’s relationship: while James wishes to return to New York and pursue his writing dream, Nelle wishes to keep traveling.

As their journey continues, we learn more about the power and origins of Nelle’s ink.

The conceit the story rides upon is challenging to accept: the rules by which ink-blooded characters are governed are unlikely, and plot twists at times too convenient, even within the fantastical tableau we’re given.

But perhaps that is the point.

Whispers of Ink and Starlight is a fresh, sweet tale about credence, freedom, parenting, and enduring love. It is about believing in the impossible, and coming fully into one’s own being—shaping and owning one’s creative power, and owning its consequences. With fantasy and tenderness, it probes at the question of what it really means to write one’s own story.

Garrett Curbow

Garrett Curbow also wrote the Daughter of Light trilogy, which was short-listed for the Publishers Weekly Selfies Award. He lives in Savannah, Georgia.