The Garden Between Worlds, Islay Corwin's debut novella, is a rare literary hybrid in which boundaries blur, like the Silverton Estate's Medieval Monastery Garden — both character and metaphor — a liminal space where growth requires both structure and wildness, and where roots connect past to present. Corwin offers a sophisticated exploration of identity fracture, the ethics of adoption, the right to one's true story, and the tension between scientific observation and magical thinking.

Through cedar groves that serve as anchors, black roses that mark thresholds, and morning glories that bloom between worlds, Corwin has written a fairy story in botanical language that enriches its emotional landscape. Her prose shifts like the Cedar Dryad between narrative clarity and poetic lyricism, occupying both forest and the fertile ground between literary fiction and magical realism.

Stella, an adoptee who chances upon her half-fae nature at age thirteen, narrates from an omniscient-transcendent perspective, allowing young adult readers access to themes of self-discovery and identity formation. As Stella's metaphysical abilities emerge, so does longing and confusion about her place within her extended family and community. Her need to integrate her dual heritage rather than choose between worlds appeals to the fantasy of possible, unlocked potential.