Leaving Wishville (2020) by Mel Torrefranca & the Hope for a New Land

Leaving Wishville (2020) by Mel Torrefranca is a remarkable debut by the author who began writing the novel for young adults as a high school freshman.

By seventeen years old, Mel Torrefranca completed and published her story about a group of teens struggling through the eighth grade in a fantastical-coastal city known as Wishville, which is isolated from the rest of the world.   

Mel Torrefranca — a published author, famed digital entrepreneur, and world traveler — has published Leaving Wishville (2020), Capsule (2021), and Memory Minefield (2022).

Mel has remained diligent in a writing career that has spanned more than a decade while rising to fame and stardom as a YouTube Vlogger. One of her most popular and captivating videos (with over 1.6 million views) is when she strictly followed the daily routine of Haruki Murakami for one week, which included running ten miles per day (Murakami is a marathon runner), no small feat.

She also has a fantastic “Dark Audio Drama” on YouTube called the “Nightshade Academy.”  

Organization of Leaving Wishville

Part I: Nina (pgs 1-98), Chapters 1-11

Part II: Wishville (pgs 99-176), Chapters 12-23

Part III: Home (pgs 177-279), Chapters 24-37

The Leaving Wishville Story

Leaving Wishville could easily be placed into either one of the categories of Fantasy or Science Fiction. The story has the tone, feeling, and fantastical-mysterious qualities of one of Madeleine L’Engle’s “science fantasy” books A Wrinkle in Time (1962), A Wind in the Door (1973), and A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978).

The focus of the story is Benji Marino, who at fourteen is attending Wishville Junior High when he attempts to escape the mysterious city of Wishville just as his father, Scott, had done years ago during the “ten-day experiment” (p 145).

The Wishville populous, however, believes, that anyone who leaves Wishville is going to die a mortal death, which it is this concrete and absolute fear — a fear that is inherent internally, externally, individually, and collectively — a fear that Benji must overcome if he wishes to find peace, happiness, and perhaps his father once again.  

When one of Benji’s friends, Nina Koi, predicts her own death and then leaves Benji a red envelope predicting Benji’s own death on May 23 at 11:59 pm (pgs 98, 105), Benji makes the ultimate choice to do two final things before his death: 1) reunite his estranged friends; 2) finally leave Wishville, no matter the cost.

The world building is legit (loved how Nina’s brother, James Koi, clings to his favorite book Sharpner’s Peak, p 69), and the reader begins investing in the mysteries surrounding this group of teens who meet at a secret location in the forest called Blueberry: Did Nina really die? Did Nina leave Wishville? Was Nina actually predicting when Benji would leave Wishville and not when he would die (as he automatically assumes).

Because when an individual leaves Wishville, that individual is systematically considered dead and never spoken about again. The estranged individual is wiped from the history of Wishville forever, hinting at the dangers of a cult-like community. But what teenager does not sit and dream about leaving his/her hometown to explore the unknown world outside those borders which seem so firm and resolute and unconquerable?

The emotions, too, are legit for these young adult characters, who struggle with school, friends, family, and childhood crushes. Benji has loved Audrey since the fourth grade and before he decides to leave Wishville he gains courage and tells her how he feels, but as this book does so very well, the illusion and the reality are two very different things which often become interchangeable and imperceptible.

“Five years. He had spent the last five years waiting for Audrey’s smile. The smile that lit the classroom, filled it with colors he could hardly imagine. There was no denying the fact that she was beautiful. Everyone could see that. But had he really known her?

“Five years. Five years of intoxication, that’s what it was. He wasn’t thinking of Audrey when he tried to leave earlier this month. He wasn’t thinking of her when he imagined his future. She brought a dash of color to a town as desaturated as Wishville, and Benji clung to all the colors he knew to survive. Every speck of it he gripped with his soul. But now that he had finally said it, now that the words came loose, these bottled feelings washed away…

“The truth was, he never liked Audrey…

“He liked the colors she showed. The colors gave him hope that someday, life could change. She was a distraction from searching for the truth, searching for the true colors, the permanent ones” (pgs 123-124).

Even the side characters, like James Koi, appear real and alive on the page as they too struggle with the oppressive-gray city of Wishville seemingly surrounded on one side by the endless ocean and on the other a forest leading to a dark and deadly void. After losing his beloved sister, James mourns on the beach questioning his own existence, his own substance of self-worth.  

“The waves squirted mists across his face, and he welcomed them. His fingers gripped to a random page. With a slow, painful drag of his wrist, he ripped it from the spine… With each paper he let go, a part of himself deteriorated. He developed a hunger for the ocean to devour every part of himself he hated. Every last word that made him the boy he despised… The pages of his prized book were gone. All that was left was an unrecognizable book cover with a dented cover. He ran his hands along the cover one last time, ripped it in half by the spine, and chucked it into the water as if tossing bread at seagulls. He watched a piece of the cover float across a peaceful patch before the water drew it into discourse. The cover tossed around, trying to stay afloat, trying to breathe, but was eventually drowned by the current, carried away forever. Something inside him had shifted. Changed, even” (p 129).

The author does an incredible job to further add a deeper psychological layer to the protagonist Benji Marino, who begins to question in his own sanity as his mother, Rebecca, takes him to see Dr. Atkins, a child therapist who had also attended to Nina Koi before the young girl’s death.

“Benji thought on that for a little. For some time. A long time. He closed his eyes. Messed with his fingers. Bit his tongue. In the end, he found himself nodding. I don’t want to believe Nina had something wrong with her… His face boiled. He wasn’t sure where the anger came from, but it did, and he wished to scream. Am I going crazy like Nina? He grabbed his head in different places, hoping he could reach a conclusion. Or am I the only person in this town who’s actually sane” (p 172).

The intensity of the characters and their plights with one another and with the city itself propel the story into an inevitable ending which keeps the reader on the edge, wondering if anything is as real as it seems or is there something beyond the borders of Wishville.

But there’s no denying the bonds these friends have for one another. Especially Samantha Perkins, daughter to the town’s mayor. Samantha chooses to do everything to help Benji leave Wishville which comes at a high price. With her father, Mayor Arthur Perkins, fighting to keep Benji inside Wishville for the greater sake of the community, Samantha (who also goes by Sam) must make a choice: one of family or one of friendship.

On Candy Road, leading out of Wishville into the great unknown, Mayor Perkins holds a gun to Benji preventing the young boy from crossing a bridge which is the final act of defiance to a whole town and culture of communalism. Sam appears out of the rain to help Benji escape.

“Sam focused on her sneakers. ‘Let him go.’ Her eyes wandered to the hundreds of feet below, and she lost the little coordination she had in her legs. She leaned to the side, gathering her balance…

“Mayor Perkins’ face reddened. He brought the gun above his head and hurled it into the sea below… Sam grinned at Benji, satisfied with her success, but he wasn’t able to smile back. As she leaned forward to step off, the rain slipped its way under her shoes. Her arms swerved to gather balance once more, but by the time Benji had taken a single step, she had already disappeared” (p 242).

If you wish to know what happens next or whether or not Benji does leave Wishville in the end, you’ll just have to read the book.

Mel’s Links

Mel is dedicated to being her best and it shows in her writing and videos.

YouTube: https://youtube.com/meltorrefranca

Instagram: https://instagram.com/meltorrefranca

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19852510.Mel_Torrefranca

Website: https://meltorrefranca.com

Publishing House: https://lostislandpress.com