- - ‘A Theory of Dreaming’ Author on Effy and Preston’s ‘True’ Ending, Her ‘Nosferatu’ Meets ‘The Handmaiden’ Film Project

Jennifer MaasAugust 17, 2025 at 2:00 AM

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for Ava Reid‘s “A Study in Drowning” sequel, “A Theory of Dreaming,” released July 29 by HarperCollins.

“A Theory of Dreaming,” Ava Reid’s eagerly anticipated followup to her hit 2023 YA fantasy novel “A Study in Drowning,” has landed on The New York Times Best-Sellers list this week following its July 29 release.

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The novel was the final book in a duology following two college students, Effy Sayre and Preston Héloury, who are embarking on a budding romance while dealing with the fallout from the bizarre and fantastical experience they had in “A Study in Drowning.” Effy, who has been plagued by her relationship with the Fairy King throughout the majority of her life, is free from his grasp in “A Theory of Dreaming” thanks to Preston’s help, but struggling with her identity now that she’s fundamentally been changed so much.

Preston, ever the sceptic, faces his own dream world this time around and has to fight the forces to remain in reality with Effy. This all while both Effy and Preston are trying to prove the truth about a famed author’s work amid an ongoing war between their two home countries.

It resolves with a proposal and a promise of a happily ever after, but not before several brushes with death and nightmares come to life.

Here, Reid discusses with Variety the ending of “A Theory of Dreaming” — and how it’s not the “true” conclusion to Effy and Preston’s story — plans for her next adult-focused book, “Innamorata,” and the progress for the film adaptation of one of her books.

At the end of “A Theory of Dreaming,” Preston chooses to keep his entire fantastical experience from throughout the book private and not disclose what happened to Effy. Why does he make this choice and do you think he will tell her some day?

I don’t think he would tell her. I think that for him, his experiences in “A Theory of Dreaming” are like what Effy’s experiences were in “A Study in Drowning.” And Preston never sees a physical manifestation of the Fairy King, and that’s OK, because he believes Effy and he believes that the feelings and the pain she’s experienced are real to her, and that’s what’s important. And I think that Preston will express his pain and his grief, as he does in the end when they visit his father’s grave.

And I think that’s what’s important and that’s always been the narrative through line of these books: the truth is not an objective thing, and it means something different to everybody. And what matters more than truth is belief, and as long as Effy believes Preston, believes his pain and cares about his feelings, that’s more important than her having proof or hard evidence of the thing that’s happened to him.

Will the upcoming illustrated companion book, “An Archive of Romance,” reveal more of Effy and Preston’s life after “A Theory of Dreaming”?

So it is a book that’s divided into thirds. The first third is all in-world materials from “A Study in Drowning.” So every time you see an excerpt from “Angharad” or a letter or a diary entry, you will see that expanded in “An Archive of Romance.” And you’ll also see some additional materials, like Preston’s diary entries from “A Study in Drowning,” so you see his perspective on some of the scenes that we didn’t get to see because it’s in Effy’s POV. And then the same in “A Theory of Dreaming,” you’ll see expansions of all of the poetry, all of the letters, all of the newspaper articles, in addition to some new material and character illustrations and art.

It’s just a physically beautiful book, as well. Every page is full color and it’s really, really stunning. There’s maps now! For “A Study in Drowning,” we were gonna have one and there was no budget for a map. So now we have a map.

And then the last third is kind of the sequel part, so it picks up after the end of “A Theory of Dreaming,” so we get to see where they are and the true end to their story.

Does that mean we will get to see illustrations of scenes from their wedding? Effy’s wedding dress?

In “An Archive of Romance,” we may or may not have sketches of exactly what she wears.

Last time we spoke, you had teased one of your books is in the works as a movie. Any update on that project, and which title it is?

It’s so funny — if this interview had taken place literally a day later, I think I would have been able to tell you more, because I have a meeting with my film team tomorrow. But I can confirm that things are moving along. I’m really excited. We have a lot of really, really amazing people on board, people who have done incredible things and who are really passionate about it. The girlies, they get it. So I’m very excited. I don’t think I’m allowed to say much more. It is one of my adult titles. And I can say the comps that we’re using are “Nosferatu” and “The Handmaiden” by Park Chan-wook, which is my favorite movie of all time. And when I heard that they were pitching it that way, I was like, they get it. So if that gives people any hints as to what book it is — I think people might be able to guess it based off of that.

You’ve also recently announced your next book, “Innamorata,” which is set in a different world from any of your current works. How does it differ from your magical stories so far?

This is a world that is very — I wouldn’t say nonliterate, but one of the things that has happened on the island where this book takes place is, it was conquered by a very powerful foreign city-state. It’s inspired by Venetian-occupied Corfu; so the analogs for the Venetians have conquered this island, and they have tried to erase the pre-conquest cultures and traditions and rights, and that includes the burning of libraries. So this is intentionally a culture that doesn’t have much of those relics of the past and doesn’t have these literary traditions. And it’s a culture that disdains these things because of their association with the magic that was also stamped out. That was something I was really excited to write — a book where there was not a lot of literary context for what was going on, and no religion.

One last one — Effy’s iconic black hair ribbon from “A Study in Drowning” gets swapped out for a white one at the start of “A Theory of Dreaming.” What was the significance of that?

Yeah, I’m so glad you asked, because I feel like it’s such a small thing, but it’s also symbolic because that is kind of her character. Like, if this were a cartoon, that would be what she wears every day. That’s so core to the visual identity of her character. In “A Theory of Dreaming,” she switches to white instead, because the black one gets quite literally taken away, ripped out of her hair by the wind. The version of herself who wore the black ribbon is taken away from her because she loses who she was: the person who lived half in this fantasy world, who had those dreams. And she has to try and form a new identity for herself, and that’s really, really hard, and she is going through the grief of that. Black is also this color that we associate more with darkness and fantasy in the arcane And white is a color that we associate with newness. So it’s this new version of herself that she’s trying to create and it’s also a very subtle foreshadowing to the end of “A Theory of Dreaming.”

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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