Persephone’s Curse Summary: Four Sisters and a Ghost
Introduction
Four sisters share an Upper West Side brownstone with a ghost who never ages, a jasmine bush said to have been planted by Persephone, and a family legend nobody has ever fully proven.
In Persephone’s Curse by Katrina Leno, that legend starts behaving like fact.
Sixteen-year-old Winnie Farthing can see spirits her sisters cannot always see.
Her older sister Evelyn has fallen in love with the boy in the attic, who died in 1918 and stayed seventeen forever.
What follows is a story about inheritance, grief, and the cost of holding on to someone the living world has already let go.
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TL;DR: The Quick Brief
- Who: The four Farthing sisters — Bernadette, Evelyn, Winnie, and Clara — plus Henry, the family ghost.
- Where: A 1894 brownstone on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, sitting on what the family calls one of Persephone’s footsteps.
- The problem: Evelyn loves a ghost, Winnie banishes him, and Evelyn walks into the Underworld to bring him back.
- The fallout: A black tear opens in the sky above the house and drains the sisters’ talents.
- The cost: Fixing it requires a sacrifice nobody wants to make.
It is a slow-burn, atmospheric YA fantasy about sisterhood, mental health, and releasing the dead.
Book Snapshot
- Genre & Subgenre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy / Magical Realism / Greek Mythological Retelling
- Core Narrative Tropes: Ghostly romance, descendants of gods, sisterhood arc, Underworld quest, magical inheritance and sacrifice
- Tone & Atmosphere: Lyrical, melancholic, intimate, wintry, cozy New York City ambiance
- Primary Conflict: Holding on to the past versus letting go, culminating in a tear in the sky above the brownstone
- Pacing Style: Character-driven with escalating supernatural stakes
- ISBN: 978-1250342904
- Pages: 336
- Book Structure: 13 numbered chapters (I–XIII) plus an Epilogue
Persephone’s Curse Summary: Spoilers ahead
The Farthing family lives in a brownstone built in 1894, on land their Aunt Bea says Persephone herself planted with a jasmine bush.
Aunt Bea tells the sisters they descend from Persephone and her daughter Melinoë, goddess of nightmares and ghosts. Winnie, the third sister, narrates.
Sharing the fourth-floor attic is Henry, a translucent seventeen-year-old who died in the 1918 flu pandemic and was buried beneath the backyard jasmine.
All four sisters can see him. Winnie alone has “second sight,” letting her spot other Farthing ghosts across Manhattan.
The trouble starts when twenty-year-old Bernadette drops out of college and comes home late at night, soaking wet, with a black eye. She cuts her long hair into a pixie cut days later and leaves for Aunt Bea’s farmhouse in Vermont.
Winnie tags along on the drive. In Vermont she meets the ghost of Aunt Esme, who died at six, and learns Bernadette’s black eye came from a fistfight, not volleyball. A psychiatrist there diagnoses Bernadette with Bipolar II disorder.
Back in New York, Winnie discovers Evelyn’s secret. Her quiet, musical sister is in love with Henry and terrified of aging while he stays seventeen. Winnie confronts Henry in Evelyn’s bedroom and, using an inherited command over spirits, orders him to go away.
Henry shatters and vanishes. Evelyn knocks on his closet door until her knuckles bleed. In early December, with their parents away, Evelyn disappears overnight, leaving her phone, her shoes, and a torn note.
Security footage shows she never used the front or back door. Winnie buys a Ouija board at an occult shop called Dark Magic, and a séance points to “NO.” Then she sees Evelyn’s ghost in the kitchen.
Clara paints a winter scene of the backyard with a black slash across the sky and Evelyn on a bench. The sisters run outside and find Evelyn sitting in the snow, unaged, wearing green linen.
She explains she used a hidden doorway inside the house to reach the Underworld, spending three years there while only three days passed at home. Henry could not return with her. Her journey tore a physical black slash in the sky above the brownstone.
Only the sisters can see the tear. It expands and drains them — Evelyn can no longer produce sound at the piano, and Clara cannot paint. Winnie hires Maybe, a gothic employee from Dark Magic, to run a séance in the attic.
Using cedar, palo santo, and a crystal apparatus, they confirm Henry is trapped below. Clara then sacrifices her painting, holding out her hand until the canvas swings open as a door of white light. Henry steps through, solid and able to touch them at last.
His return widens the tear. Walking with Winnie by the frozen Central Park Reservoir, Henry tells his story: born in 1901, orphaned in 1918, buried by the Farthings under the jasmine.
Because his spirit existed in both worlds, he can patch the tear with his “spirit glue” — but the repair will extinguish his spirit form forever.
A snowstorm buries Manhattan as the tear keeps growing, giving their mother persistent headaches. On Christmas night, Evelyn demands the truth, and Winnie confesses Henry’s plan. Bernadette seals the Underworld portal permanently using her red leather journal.
In the backyard, under a surreal snowfall of jasmine petals, Henry says goodbye to each sister. Winnie releases every Farthing ghost — Henry, Aunt Esme, and the historical spirits.
Henry becomes a golden flash of light that sweeps across the city and seals the tear like kintsugi stitches.
Afterward, Bernadette returns to college in Vermont and Evelyn enters a music conservatory in Boston.
A year later, Winnie turns eighteen at a backyard party with her girlfriend Maybe, and Clara unveils a painting of the four sisters’ hands among blooming jasmine under a restored blue sky with a golden seam.
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Summary by Chapter
Spoilers below. This section offers a brief look at each chapter for readers who want to see what is inside.
Chapter I: Winnie introduces the four Farthing sisters and the brownstone they share with Henry the ghost. Aunt Bea’s legend of descent from Persephone and Melinoë is explained. Twenty-year-old Bernadette returns home late at night with a black eye after dropping out of college.
Chapter II: At Todd’s diner, Bernadette shows a video claiming a volleyball caused the bruise. She then cuts her long hair into a pixie cut, upsetting Evelyn. Winnie follows Evelyn upstairs and learns her sister is in love with Henry.
Chapter III: Bernadette travels to Burlington, Vermont, and Winnie rides along with their mother. At Aunt Bea’s farmhouse, Winnie sees the ghost of Aunt Esme, who died at six. Bernadette reveals the fistfight, her Bipolar II diagnosis, and her therapy plan, and Esme tells Winnie to help her sister.
Chapter IV: Winnie confronts Henry in Evelyn’s bedroom and commands him to go away, and he vanishes. Evelyn knocks on his closet door until her knuckles bleed. Guilt-ridden, Winnie confesses to Bernadette and Clara, and the sisters take Evelyn on city outings.
Chapter V: Evelyn disappears overnight in early December, leaving her phone, shoes, and a torn note. Security footage shows she never left through either door. Winnie buys a Ouija board at Dark Magic, a séance fails, and she later sees Evelyn’s ghost in the kitchen.
Chapter VI: Clara paints the backyard with a black slash across the sky. The sisters find Evelyn sitting in the snow in green linen, unaged. Evelyn explains she used a hidden doorway to reach the Underworld for three years, that Henry could not follow, and that her journey tore the sky.
Chapter VII: The black slash expands and drains the sisters’ vitality, silencing Evelyn’s piano. Winnie returns to Dark Magic and meets Maybe, a gothic medium who agrees to conduct a séance. Evelyn warns that if Henry is not rescued by January 1st, she will return to the Underworld permanently.
Chapter VIII: Maybe arrives at the brownstone at 11 PM on a Saturday and conducts a séance with cedar, palo santo, olive oil, and a crystal apparatus. The crystal confirms Henry is listening. Bernadette and Evelyn argue, Maybe restores calm, and she and Winnie begin a romance.
Chapter IX: Clara realizes the sisters’ artistic gifts are divine and can open portals. She sacrifices her painting, which swings open like a door of blinding white light. Henry steps through, fully solid and able to touch them, and the tear in the sky widens.
Chapter X: Henry discovers he can leave the attic and walk New York freely. By the frozen Central Park Reservoir, he tells Winnie about losing his family to the 1918 flu and being buried under the jasmine. He reveals his plan to patch the sky with his spirit, sacrificing himself, and swears Winnie to secrecy.
Chapter XI: A snowstorm buries Manhattan as the tear expands and drains the family, leaving their mother with headaches. The Farthings celebrate Christmas with games and gifts. Evelyn demands the truth, Winnie confesses, and Bernadette seals the Underworld portal with her journal.
Chapter XII: In the backyard, jasmine petals fall like snow as Henry says goodbye to each sister. Winnie releases all Farthing ghosts, freeing Henry and Aunt Esme. Henry becomes a golden flash of light that seals the tear like kintsugi stitches.
Chapter XIII: The sisters heal and make plans: Bernadette returns to college in Vermont, and Evelyn accepts a place at a Boston conservatory. On Winnie’s seventeenth birthday, she speaks to Henry near the jasmine bushes and senses an answer from two winking stars.
Epilogue: A year later, Winnie turns eighteen at a backyard party with her family, Aunt Bea, and her girlfriend Maybe. Maybe gives her a celestine cuff bracelet. Clara reveals a new painting of the four sisters’ hands among jasmine beneath a blue sky with a golden seam, and Winnie makes her birthday wish.
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Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Winter (“Winnie”) Farthing | The narrator and third Farthing sister, who has “second sight” and can see and command Farthing ghosts. |
| Bernadette Farthing | The eldest sister, age 20, who drops out of college, is diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder, and seals the Underworld portal. |
| Evelyn Farthing | The second sister, age 18, a pianist in love with Henry who travels to the Underworld to find him. |
| Clara Farthing | The youngest sister, age 14, a painter whose prophetic canvases open a portal to bring Henry back. |
| Henry | The ghost in the attic, born in 1901, who died of the Spanish flu at 17 and sacrifices his spirit form to mend the sky. |
| Anastasia Farthing (Mom) | The sisters’ mother, who saw Henry once when Clara was born. |
| Dad | The sisters’ father, a history enthusiast fond of coffee and walks around New York City. |
| Aunt Beatrice (“Bea”) | Anastasia’s sister in Vermont, an artist and professor who passed down the Persephone legend. |
| Aunt Esme | Anastasia and Bea’s sister, who died at six and whose ghost resides at the Vermont farmhouse. |
| Maybe | A gothic employee at Dark Magic who serves as the attic medium and becomes Winnie’s girlfriend. |
| Jon & Gillian | Employees at the Dark Magic occult shop on Columbus Avenue. |
| The Priest | A priest at Trinity Churchyard who grants Winnie access to the Bleecker crypt. |
| Professor Natalie Beard | A classical mythology professor at Hunter College whom Winnie emails. |
Quotes from Persephone’s Curse
“Every family has their myths, their stories passed down from generation to generation, a game of telephone that subtly shifts from one mouth to another, from one mother to her daughter, until the message has changed almost entirely.”
“They say Persephone came to Manhattan before it was even Manhattan. That she planted a jasmine bush on a plot of bare land. They say her descendants would forever be drawn to it, like moths to a flame.”
“Melinoë, Persephone’s daughter, would always be our favorite. She was the goddess of nightmares and madness, and in a houseful of women, there was plenty of that to go around.”
“The person we call isn’t always the person who answers.”
“You’re always so concerned with that, you know. The right thing, the wrong thing. It’s impossible to make that declaration in the moment. You can only do the best thing. Make the best decision.”
“The five of us, as we had always been. Girl, girl, girl, girl, ghost.”
“And no matter how embellished, no matter how many times a story is told and retold, there is always truth there. There is always some basis in reality.”
Books Like Persephone’s Curse
- Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno: Another Leno novel of magical realism about a family of women with inherited magic on an island, dealing with sisterhood, secrets, and grief.
- Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman: Sisters from a magical bloodline navigate love, ghosts, and family bonds inside an old ancestral home.
- The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert: A dark YA fantasy built on fairy tales, family secrets, portal magic, and a journey into a mythological realm.
- All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle: Magical realism, family curses, ghosts, and sisterly devotion drive a search for a missing sister and generational secrets.
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