It Came From Neverland: A Novel

By Cynthia Pelayo

Peter Pan meets Stephen King's It in this twisted horror retelling of a classic childhood fairy tale set during WWI. 1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher, and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who, despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget. When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy is convinced that Peter Pan, the entity that she believes killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games. When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

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Published Jun 9, 2026

288 pages

Average rating: 7

2 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

juli1357
6/10 stars
This is the first book I’ve read by Cynthia Pelayo. I read a lot of Horror and she’s an author I’ve been wanting to read for sometime. “It Came From Neverland” is the second novel I’ve read this year that is a retelling of Peter Pan; both were published in 2026. The writing was impeccable, and there wee some wonderful quotes, but I didn’t find this novel very engaging. The first 20% of the book was fairly uneventful, but then the pace picked up. Even so, it wasn’t as if I was on the edge of my seat, waiting to see what happened next. I think most avid Horror readers will find the book a bit too tame. If you love reading dark fairytales, I think you will enjoy this novel. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and LibraryThing for the complimentary eDRC. All opinions are my own.

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