- Adventure
- Chapter Books
- Ages 9–12
The shape of it
The shape of this universe.
Helena Duggan's bestselling middle-grade trilogy, set in the sinister town of Perfect — a place so tidy, polite and relentlessly well-behaved that everyone must wear special glasses to keep from going blind, all while eerie Watchers patrol the streets. Across three books the ordinary, stubborn heroine Violet and her friend Boy uncover the town's dark secrets, resist its sinister rulers and fight to keep their family and their freedom. Often likened to Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton, the trilogy pairs a genuinely creepy, high-concept premise with short, propulsive chapters and a sharp idea at its heart: the danger of forcing everyone to be the same. Creepy, fast and quietly thoughtful, it has sold hundreds of thousands of copies and been published in many languages.
A deliciously creepy bestselling trilogy in the spirit of Dahl and Tim Burton — an ordinary girl fighting a town so relentlessly Perfect that its niceness hides something genuinely sinister.
Primary themes
Tone palette
- Suspenseful
- Dark
- Exciting
- Bittersweet
The series
One way in.
Cultural footprint
A shelf of evidence.
What A Place Called Perfect has done
- Major award winner
- Bestseller
Cultural ubiquity
3/ 5Well-known to people who know the room.
Sensitivity
Moderate, and collection-wide.
Content notes
- Scary imagery
- Violence
- Absent parent
- Death of character
Across the collection
All 3 books.
About the creator