Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Long before they arrived at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, twin sisters Jacqueline and Jillian Wolcott lived a life defined by their parents' rigid expectations. Jacqueline, the 'perfect daughter,' was molded into a prim, quiet princess, while Jillian was encouraged to be adventurous and tomboyish, a proxy for the son her father always wanted. Their contrasting upbringings, rooted in pretense and control, left them both feeling misunderstood and trapped. At the tender age of twelve, a mysterious, impossible staircase beckoned them to a world unlike their own – a gothic land of mad scientists, dark experiments, and moral ambiguity. In this haunting realm, where choices have dire consequences and death lurks around every corner, the twins must navigate their new reality, discovering who they truly are when stripped of their parents' influence, and confronting the profound, and often deadly, differences that separate them.