AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER * NPR BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * KIRKUS BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * BOOKLIST 2025 EDITOR'S CHOICE * NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST OF YEAR * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST OF YEAR * From the powerhouse creator of Nimona comes a breathtaking illustrated novel, the start of a duology, following two orphans who leave the only home they’ve ever known to sail with an eccentric crew of pirates. Viola and Wilmur have been waiting for their parents for fifteen boring years in the colorless town of Caveat. Their lives are a drudge of salt, trash, pirate stories, and what-ifs .

. . until one very stormy night, when Captain Cadence Chase breaks down their door.

They cut a deal with the captain: Chase can take their most prized possession, a mysterious book, but only if she takes them, too. After all, if their parents aren’t coming, Viola and Wilmur might as well have a grand adventure to find them. Setting sail into the treacherous and beautiful world beyond Caveat, the two inseparable friends must uncover the facts behind legend—and the key to saving all of Dickerson’s Sea from obliteration—before the truth tears them apart.

Wickedly funny, deeply emotional, and sharply incisive, Scarlet Morning is a tale of love, betrayal, and the extraordinary lengths we’d go to save a world broken beyond repair.