Melody and the Pier to Forever
The debut novel of teacher-turned-writer Shawn Michel de Montaigne, Melody and the Pier to Forever is a combination of Urban Fantasy, Magical Land / Down the Rabbit Hole and Coming of Age. As of yet, it only exists in e-book form and is, remarkably for its considerable size, available for free.
In January 1983, the seaside community of Imperial Beach, California, is struck by a ferocious hurricane. The storm, which had come completely out of the blue, claims hundreds of lives and destroys the town's wooden pier before vanishing. In the storm's wake, a mysterious man in regal clothing arrives onshore, only to disappear come daylight. Two decades later, twelve-year-old Melody Singleton finds herself struggling with school, isolated from her peers and disliked by her teachers. This all changes when she meets geometry teacher Aedan Conor, who gives her a remarkable "proof" to solve. The proof has something to do with a symbol only she can seem to see, a symbol that seems to affect reality itself.
Melody and her best friend, Japanese violin prodigy Yaeko Mitsaki, come to a number of remarkable discoveries, both about themselves and the seemingly ordinary place they live. There is more out there than meets the eye, especially where the rebuilt Imperial Beach Pier is concerned...
De Montaigne's website can be found here.