AUTHOR
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![The Secret Life of Hidden Places adult nonfiction Concealed Rooms Secret Passageways and the Curious Minds that Made them Stefan Bachmann]()
THE SECRET LIFE OF HIDDEN PLACES
In their adult non-fiction debut, Stefan Bachmann and April Genevieve Tucholke explore the hidden corners of the world of architecture, searching for the human stories and motivations in secret rooms, passageways, and other mysterious locales.
★ Amazon’s Wanderlust Book Club Pick
★ The Archive’s Best History Books of 2024
★ “For readers who like a little true mystery in their lives, The Secret Life of Hidden Places . . . will be a delightful way to indulge.” —The Guam Daily Post
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![Book cover of "Release the Wolves" by Stefan Bachmann featuring dark, shadowy, mythical creatures with glowing eyes, and two silhouetted figures on a hill. Tagline reads "The hunt begins at midnight."]()
RELEASE THE WOLVES
Set in a conquered land where every few generations hordes of bloodthirsty monsters are unleashed to keep the population subdued, a young hunter must try to rescue his missing sister and possibly start a rebellion before everything ends again.
★ A Junior Library Guild Selection
★ “Bachmann is a master of truly scary storytelling.” —LitHub
★ “The literary version of Attack on Titan.” —The Observer
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!["Cinders & Sparrows" book cover featuring a girl facing a castle, with her silhouette filled with a fantastical landscape, birds, and trees. Acclaimed fantasy book by Stefan Bachmann.]()
CINDERS & SPARROWS
Zita Brydgeborne, orphan and housemaid, is called to Blackbird Castle, where it will be determined whether she is the last surviving heir to a powerful dynasty of witches.
★ A Vermont Book Award Finalist
★ A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
★ Shortlisted for the Rattenfänger-Literaturpreis
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![Cover of "The Peculiar" by Stefan Bachmann, featuring a steampunk mechanical bird with gears, against a cityscape and a banner with the book title. "Swift, strong, and entertaining. Highly recommended." - Christopher Paolini.]()
THE PECULIAR
In an England where the Victorians have enslaved Faerie and conquered magic with engines and iron, a young changeling must fight to save a country that hates and fears him.
★ A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
★ A New York Time’s Editor’s Choice
★ A CYBILS Nominee
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![Cover of the book "The Whatnot" by Stefan Bachmann featuring a whimsical steampunk creature in a snowy forest scene, surrounded by gears and mechanical elements.]()
THE WHATNOT
“Oh, the Sly King, the Sly King, in his towers of ash and wind. . .” Return to a dark and enchanted England in this companion to the international bestseller, The Peculiar.
★ A VOYA Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of the Year
★ “Enthralling” —Publishers Weekly (Starred review)
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![Book cover of "A Drop of Night" by Stefan Bachmann featuring a mysterious mansion, eerie atmosphere, and shadowy figure in a hallway with red and blue lighting.]()
A DROP OF NIGHT
An expedition into a palace buried deep beneath the French countryside devolves into a deadly fight for survival.
★ A Junior Library Guild Selection
“Bizarre and hugely suspenseful.” —Kirkus
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![Cover of the book 'The Cabinet of Curiosities: 40 Tales Brief & Sinister' featuring a whimsical, surreal illustration of a floating house with odd characters and mechanical elements. Authors' names Stefan Bachmann, Katherine Catmull, Claire Legrand, and Emma Trevayne are displayed.]()
THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
"Four of horror fantasy’s newer stars share tales and correspondence . . . A hefty sheaf of chillers—all short enough to share aloud and expertly cast to entice unwary middle graders a step or two into the shadows."
—Kirkus (Starred review)★ A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
REVIEWS
About Stefan Bachmann
Stefan Bachmann was born in the United States and grew up in Switzerland, in an old house next to a forest. His debut, The Peculiar, was published by HarperCollins to international acclaim when he was nineteen years old. After studying organ, composition, and theory at the Zürich University of Arts, he moved to Prague, Tokyo, and later Berlin, writing in a broad range of fields, from children’s books to adult non-fiction, radio plays, short stories, and journalism. His work has been translated into nine languages.
Next to his work in writing, he also works in the field of literacy and reading development. He is the co-founder of the Zürich-based non-profit Foundations in Literacy, the current co-president of AUTILLUS — Swiss association of children’s authors and illustrators, and teaches creative writing at the Junges Literaturlabor in Zürich.
News
Die Letzten Hexen von Blackbird Castle is one of Tagesspiegel’s “Alternatives to Harry Potter: Great books about magic that break stereotypes” — March 2026.
HarperCollins’ special edition of Howl’s Moving Castle, with interior art by Stefan Bachmann, has spent five weeks as a national bestseller in independent bookstores in the United States.
Stefan Bachmann illustrated the interior art of the special edition of the fantasy classic Howl’s Moving Castle, forthcoming from Greenwillow/HarperCollins on September 9th, 2025.
The Secret Life of Hidden Places is one of The Archive’s best history books of 2024.
Release the Wolves is a Junior Library Gold Standard Selection.
Die Letzten Hexen von Blackbird Castlehas been shortlisted for the Rattenfänger-Literaturpreis.
The Secret Life of Hidden Places is one of BookBub’s most fascinating nonfiction titles of winter 2024.
Die Letzten Hexen von Blackbird Castlehas been featured as the children’s book tip on both ORF in Austria and 3Sat in Germany, and reviewed in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Die Letzten Hexen von Blackbird Castlehas been shortlisted for Germany’s LovelyBooks Award for best fantasy.
Die Letzten Hexen von Blackbird Castle, the German translation of Cinders and Sparrows, will be released by Diogenes Verlag on March 22nd, 2023.
As of Spring 2022, Stefan is serving as a board member of Autillus, the Swiss Association of Children’s Writers and Illustrators.
Short story “Der Halb-kopf” published in Impulse magazine.
Cinders and Sparrowsis a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year for 2021.
Clandestine, a nonfiction book on architectural secrets written with author April Genevieve Tucholke, has sold to Workman Publishing for release in 2023.
Stefan’s next book, Release the Wolves, has sold to Greenwillow/HarperCollins, along with a second untitled standalone, with Release the Wolves slated to launch in Fall 2022.
Cinders and Sparrows has been nominated for the Vermont Golden Dome Book Award, formerly known as the the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award.
The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief and Sinister is one of Book Riot’s 53 outstanding short stories and anthologies for 2021.
Cinders and Sparrows is one of A Mighty Girl‘s Books of the Year.
Cinders and Sparrows is Owlcrate Jr.’s November book pick for 2020.
Cinders and Sparrowshas received a STARRED review from Kirkus!
Cinders and Sparrowswas voted an Indie Next List Pick for Fall 2020 by the American Booksellers Association.
Cinders and Sparrowsis a Junior Library Guild Selection!
Stefan’s next book – Cinders and Sparrows – and will be released in English in Fall 2020 from Greenwillow / HarperCollins.
Stefan’s first radio play – ‘In the Forest of the Dolls’ – is now available to stream in German on SRF
The International Hay Festival for Literature has chosen Stefan Bachmann as one of the Aarhus 39, a selection of the best children’s writers under 40 in Europe.
A Drop of Nightis a Junior Library Guild Selection!
Friday Magazine has chosen Stefan for its 30 under 30 list of young innovators and artists.
The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief and Sinisterhas gone into its 5th printing. Heartfelt thanks from Stefan and his fellow Curators.
Stefan’s short story ‘M’ is featured in the much-buzzed horror anthology Slasher Girls and Monster Boys from Dial/Penguin.
Stefan’s next book, A Drop of Night, will be published in the United States on March 15th, 2016
The Cabinet of Curiositieshas received its second starred review from Publishers Weekly!
The Cabinet of Curiositieshas received a STARRED review from Kirkus!
The Whatnot has been chosen as one of VOYA’s best science fiction and fantasy books for young adults for 2013.
The Peculiar has been chosen as one of Fantasy Faction’s best books of the year.
Translation rights for The Peculiar and The Whatnot have sold in
eight languages and HarperCollins’s international paperback is
available in bookstores worldwide. Check here to see if a translation will be available in your language.The German edition of The Peculiar, Die Seltsamen, has released from Diogenes Verlag in Germany, Switzerland and Austria to much fanfare, including eight weeks on the Swiss hardcover bestseller list.
The Cabinet of Curiosities is a Junior Library Guild Selection!
Stefan Bachmann is on Huffington Post’s list of 18 under 18 for 2012.
Publishers Weekly has given The Whatnot a STARRED review.
Greenwillow/HarperCollins has contracted two new books from Stefan for release in 2015 and 2016.
The Peculiar is now an international bestseller.
The Peculiar is a finalist for the Cybils Award 2012.
The Peculiar has been named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.
The Peculiar has received fantastic reviews from both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times!
The Peculiar was named one of the big children’s books of Book Expo America ’12, and was a Middle Grade Buzz Book!
The Peculiar received a STARRED review from Publishers Weekly.
Independent bookstores across America picked The Peculiar as one of their New Voices of 2012.
The Peculiar is an Indie Next List Top Ten pick for Autumn 2012.
