Megan Shepherd author page

Megan Shepherd biography

Megan Shepherd is an author of middle-grade and young adult novels. She grew up in her family’s independent bookshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her work includes The Madman’s Daughter series, The Cage series, The Secret Horses of Briar Hill and the Grim Lovelies series.

The Madman’s Daughter was published on 29 January 2013 and is a young adult gothic suspense novel inspired by H. G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau. The trilogy continued with Her Dark Curiosity and A Cold Legacy.

Her later children’s and young adult books include The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, published on 11 October 2016; Grim Lovelies, published on 2 October 2018; Midnight Beauties, published on 13 August 2019; Dog Star, published on 14 September 2021; Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, published on 4 July 2023; and Hour of the Pumpkin Queen, published on 8 July 2025.