Defense Date
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
SJ Sindu
Second Advisor
Gretchen Comba
Third Advisor
Ross Collin
Abstract
The Hallway Eats Its Name is a speculative young adult novel following seventeen-year-old Zee, haunted by her late physicist grandmother’s impossible standards, as she unravels the secrets of a sickness-inducing labyrinth that’s swallowing her home and family. Zee’s grandmother, Birdie, was full of tests, and Zee has always felt she’s fallen short. Before she disappeared, Birdie opened one last test: a door to a pocket dimension, a labyrinthine Hallway, in their house. Exploring the Hallway comes with side effects like confusion and sickness. Zee’s mother, a doctor, studies these side effects with the help of outside researchers, in her obsessive search for Birdie. Zee acts as their medic, nursing them back to health when they return. But when her mother disappears, along with the Hallway itself, Zee must track down her former patients, uncover the Hallway’s secrets, and save her family. She must confront her feelings of inadequacy and solve what feels like an unsolvable puzzle before the Hallway consumes everything.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
7-18-2026