Imaginary friend

After disappearing for six days without a trace and reappearing unharmed, little Christopher has a mysterious mission: to build a tree house. Imaginary Friend is the highly anticipated book by Stephen Chbosky, acclaimed author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and screenwriter and director of the film Wonder .

Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to find a better life for herself and her son, Christopher, she leaves an abusive relationship and escapes in the middle of the night with her little boy. They find themselves drawn to the pleasant community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, a small town far from everything and everyone, with only one access road.

At first, Mill Grove seems like the perfect place for them to settle. However, Christopher disappears for six long days without a trace. Kate's despair overwhelms her, and the town police search tirelessly for the boy's whereabouts. Until he emerges in the middle of the night from a wooded area on the edge of town. Unharmed, but changed. Christopher returns with a voice in his head that only he can hear and a mission only he can fulfill: build a treehouse in the Mission Street woods before Christmas; otherwise, his mother and everyone in town will suffer the consequences.

Twenty years after The Perks of Being a Wallflower made readers around the world feel infinite, Stephen Chbosky returns with Imaginary Friend , an epic horror film whose scale and thrills redefine the genre. Read it with the lights on.

"I couldn't put it down. It was definitely the scariest book I've read in a long time. Mysterious woods, evil forces, secret universes. But it's also, like everything Chbosky does, imbued with love and soul. Readers will fall in love with the characters." - RJ Palacio, author of the bestselling Wonder

"A haunting and moving book, driven by the powerful empathy that makes Chbosky's work so special." - John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

"If your mind isn't blown after the first fifty pages of Imaginary Friend , you need to check your ability to wonder at things." Joe Hill, author of Nos4a2

"The most impressive thing—and hilariously brilliant—is that Chbosky disguised all his wisdom in an entertaining thriller. (...) The spiritual enlightenment and the horror. I don't know how he managed to do it. But he did. It's a work of art." - Emma Watson, actress and activist

"An extraordinary book that keeps you reading. Stephen Chbosky combines the heart and emotion that permeates all his work with the chills of Stephen King. The pages practically turn themselves." - Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen, authors of The Woman Between Us

"Imaginary Friend is like discovering a Stephen King classic from two decades ago, but in the unique style of Stephen Chbosky. An extraordinary read, every part is worth the wait." - Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter