SuitabookTrust and dangerous bargains
Jenny makes a pact with Luc, a demon who says he can return her stolen soul, while the story asks whether he can be trusted.
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Book details
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Jess Popplewell - Author
A dark, imaginative fantasy about a teenager navigating homelessness, fractured relationships and a dangerous supernatural bargain. Its central appeal is the collision between recognisable adolescent difficulties and a modern vision of Hell.
Book Brief
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Sign in for personalised guidanceA dark, imaginative fantasy about a teenager navigating homelessness, fractured relationships and a dangerous supernatural bargain. Its central appeal is the collision between recognisable adolescent difficulties and a modern vision of Hell.
Jenny makes a pact with Luc, a demon who says he can return her stolen soul, while the story asks whether he can be trusted.
Jenny begins homeless or sofa-surfing after conflict with her mother, and the author connects the story with teenagers surviving insecure housing.
The novel presents a modern version of Hell influenced by Dante’s Inferno and by changing cultural ideas about death and the afterlife.
Some readers may want preparation for homelessness, insecure accommodation, conflict with family and friends, a relationship ending, demons, Hell and darkness. The available details do not establish how graphically or intensely these are portrayed.
This is a grounded book brief while Suitabook strengthens the analysis: some draft conclusions still depend on unresolved evidence.
Halloween Special: ‘The Dark Within Us’ by Jess Popplewell – PaperBound Magazine
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Checked: 20 September 2026.
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