Some stories are told. Others are taken.

In Harlem, stories live in the blood and breath of the people. They heal, they protect, and they remember what the world tries to forget.

Sixteen-year-old Malik Turner is the last in a line of griots - keepers of sacred stories passed down for generations. But Malik has a secret: he can't tell a story out loud. The words won't come.

When an ancient being known only as the Spider begins stealing stories - and with them, the memories, voices, and souls of the people - Harlem starts to forget itself. The city frays. The silence grows.

To save his grandmother. To save his neighborhood. To save the stories that make them who they are.

Malik will have to find his voice. Or lose everything.

A novel of Harlem, the Spider, and the silence - where the oldest magic in the world is a story told out loud, and the most dangerous thing you can do is stay quiet.