Plot
Nora Grey is a sixteen year old student living in Coldwater, Maine. Outside of the tragedy of her father's recent murder, her life is largely uneventful until she is seated next to Patch Cipriano in biology class. Patch takes interest in her, and knows personal details about Nora's life which sets her on edge. Nora finds herself inexplicably drawn to him, despite feeling a lingering sense of danger in his presence.
Nora's life soon takes a more mysterious, dangerous turn. She senses she is being followed, and one night is attacked while driving. Yet when Nora tries to show her friend Vee the damage, the car had returned to its previous good condition, leading her to fear she may be losing her sanity. A similar incident happens at Delphic amusement park where Nora strongly sees and feels herself falling from a roller coaster she rides with Patch, only to later realize nothing happened and she had merely imagined it. Overtime, her feelings for Patch grow stronger and they become increasingly connected. Meanwhile, she becomes more suspicious of her friend Elliot after discovering his involvement in a murder case in his last school. Her old school psychologist gets replaced by Miss Greene, who warns Nora to stay away from Patch, despite Nora not previously mentioning Patch to her.
When Nora goes to Portland to investigate Elliott's murder, a woman giving her directions gets shot in front of her. Terrified, she calls Patch for a ride home. Nora then finds that Patch has a V-shaped scar on his back, which she touches, leading her to get pulled into memories of his past. The memories reveal that Patch is a fallen angel from Heaven who was trying to kill her in order to gain a human body, an idea which he heard comes from the book of Enoch. Her death would kill his nephilim vassal Chauncey Langeais and make Patch completely human. She also discovers that her psychologist Miss Greene is an angel named Dabria and Patch's former lover, who wants him to save Nora's life so he can become a guardian angel. Patch had initially rejected Dabria's idea out of a desire to become human, but the plan failed because he had fallen in love with Nora. Patch reveals that he had initially wanted to become human after lusting for an unnamed human woman, but she got old and died before Patch could meet her.
Later Dabria breaks into Nora's room and tries to kill Nora in order to prevent Patch from doing so and becoming human. Nora is narrowly saved by Patch, who strips Dabria's wings, knowing the archangels would have done the same for trying to kill Nora. It is soon revealed that Nora's friend Jules is actually Chauncey, who wants revenge on Patch for making him swear an oath that allows Patch to take over his body during Cheshvan. Nora gets invited to a game of hide-and-seek by Elliott, who hints that Vee will not survive the game if Nora doesn't participate. Jules corners her during the game and confesses that he was behind the various attacks on her life, motivated by getting venegance on Patch as Patch cannot feel any physical pain, leading Chauncey trying to break him emotionally. The game continues and she is held at gunpoint by Chauncey in front of Patch.
Patch is forced to possess Nora's body to fight Chauncey. Nora climbs to the rafters of the school gym to escape, but Jules uses mind tricks to make her believe that the ladders are breaking and that she will fall to her death. Patch breaks through the tricks by making her focus on his voice in her mind. Nora then confronts Jules with the knowledge that if she were to sacrifice her life, Patch would become human and Jules would die. Nora throws herself from the rafters, which effectively kills Jules, as he did not have a soul to reanimate his body when Nora's consciousness returned.
To her surprise, Nora wakes up alive and well. Patch explains that he did not take her sacrifice because there was no point in having a human body without her. In doing so, Patch has saved Nora's life and is now her guardian angel. The two share a romantic moment, ending the book.
Development
Fitzpatrick said that Patch was the first character she knew would be in the story, and that many of the early drafts of Hush, Hush revolved around him. According to Fitzpatrick, there was a boy she knew in high school who she used as a framework to build Patch's character. The boy was "cool, quiet, mysterious" and she felt drawn to him, despite never knowing him well. Fitzpatrick also said that the biggest obstacle to getting Hush, Hush published was that the original drafts weren't good enough. She had first started sending drafts in 2002 and after revising the book for five years, she finally started receiving publishing offers in 2008. [3]
Patch being a fallen angel was not something Fitzpatrick had initially planned when she started writing. While she did know that she wanted Patch to be a bad boy archetype, it wasn't until multiple revisions and wanting Patch to have had a fall from grace in his backstory that she decided Patch would be a fallen angel. She also stated that in early drafts, Nora was a much more arrogant character she found too similar to Patch, and it took multiple rewrites to get her characterization to her liking. [4]
Adaptations
Film adaptation
On December 4, 2012 Entertainment Weekly revealed that the entire Hush, Hush series had been optioned by LD Entertainment as producer and distributor Paramount Pictures. [7] LD Entertainment announced that they would be turning the books into a film series, with Greek creator Patrick Sean Smith set to write the screenplay for the first installment. [7]
On July 8, 2014, Becca announced on her website that she has decided that now is not the right time to move forward with the Hush, Hush movie and did not renew the movie option with LD Entertainment.
On July 20, 2018, Becca posted an update stating that a Hush Hush movie would be headed to production 'very soon'. Liana Liberato was cast as Nora and Wolfgang Novogratz as Patch. [8] BCDF Pictures, along with Kalahari Film & Media, announced that Kellie Cyrus would be directing the film - who is best known for directing The Vampire Diaries and The Originals , as well as an episode of the drama You from Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble. [9]
On July 13, 2021, Becca announced that Hush, Hush had been greenlit for a film by SpringHill Company and Genius Entertainment Partner. [10] There have been no further updates since the announcement.
Graphic novel
In 2011 Sea Lion Books published the first volume in a proposed three-volume adaptation of Hush, Hush, the first book in the series. [11] Artist Jennyson Rosero was stated to be drawing the series, with Fitzpatrick and Rosero using Fitzpatrick's blog to receive reader advice and criticism from preliminary sketches. [12]
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