Dearly Departed

A sharp, slick, blisteringly paced debut novel, with an unconventional but tender love story at its heart.

Lia Habel was born into a time of unparalleled ugliness - it was called 'the Eighties'. It was horrible - but yet it brought Lia the video for Thriller by Michael Jackson, and a burning interest in zombies followed. A self-described 'zombie anthropologist', Lia has seen a lot of zombie movies. She lives in Jamestown, NY, with her three cats, Ebeneezer, ZZ and Bloody Mary. DEARLY, DEPARTED is her debut novel.

A sharp, slick, blisteringly paced debut novel, with an unconventional but tender love story at its heart. 
 
I parted the curtains. A skeletal face peered back at me, blackened eyes rolling in sockets seemingly unsupported by flesh. It smiled... 
 
It should be game over for Nora Dearly when she is ambushed and dragged off into the night by the living dead. But this crack unit of teen zombies are the good guys, sent to protect Nora from the real monsters roaming the country and zeroing in on cities to swell their ranks. 
Can Nora find a way to kill off the evil undead once and for all? Can she trust her protectors to resist their hunger for human flesh? And can she stop herself falling for the noble, sweet, surprisingly attractive, definitely-no-longer-breathing Bram...?

Lia Habel

Habel's debut is a heart-pounding and nontraditional take on the steampunk and zombie apocalypse genres. Nora and Pamela are strong, capable heroines, and Nora and Bram's touching and tender relationship... feels particularly special.

Dearly, Departed is a wonderful book, with strong writing and memorable characters. It's one of the best YA books I've read all year, and that's saying something for me. With its combination of humor, adventure, romance, and "awesome stuff," it's a book I wholeheartedly recommend. I can't wait for the sequel.

A sharp, slick sequel to zombie adventure debut Dearly, Departed. 
 
Can the living coexist with the living dead? That’s the question that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites. 
 
Just ask Nora Dearly, who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man . . . who was sadly no longer breathing... 
 
Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target. 
 
As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain of the illness—and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse. 
 
Lia Habel’s spellbinding, suspenseful sequel to Dearly, Departed takes her imaginative mash-up of period romance, futuristic thriller, and zombie drama to a whole new level of innovative and irresistible storytelling.

Dearly Beloved

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Best-Jane-Austen-quotes_Online-Desktop_Penguin

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

sectionTitle

isEnabled

anchor

anchorLabel

prhuk/featured-book

prhuk/praise-section

maxBooks

showViewMore

prhuk/books-section

hideAuthorAlert

formName

iterableDivision

iterableBrand

buttonText

description

heading

legalText

successHeading

successText

image

alignment

variation

prhuk/email-section

prhuk/series-section

prhuk/biography-section

prhuk/articles-section

prhuk-authors

Penguin Shop: 15% off with code PENGUINXMAS2025

White Nights

Little Black Classics Box Set

Penguin Modern Box Set

Frankenstein

Lia Habel

Praise for Dearly Beloved

Habel's debut is a heart-pounding and nontraditional take on the steampunk and zombie apocalypse genres. Nora and Pamela are strong, capable heroines, and Nora and Bram's touching and tender relationship... feels pa ...

Dearly, Departed is a wonderful book, with strong writing and memorable characters. It's one of the best YA books I've read all year, and that's saying something for me. With its combination of humor, adventu ...

Books by Lia Habel

Series by Lia Habel

Dearly Departed

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter