Yelena Belova – super-spy, former assassin, and adoptive younger sister of Natasha Romanoff – has been a fan-favorite character since she was first introduced in Marvel’s comics in 1998. Though she is oft-characterized by her sharp humor and youthful spirit, Yelena also harbors a compelling and extremely dark past as a graduate of the “Red Room,” – the brutal Soviet training program responsible for turning young girls into assassins, or “widows.”

In Tess Sharpe’s forthcoming YA thriller, White Widow: Secret Sisters, readers encounter Yelena on the heels of her cutthroat training. Her new mission lands her at the “American Outpost” – the US version of the Red Room. Yelena is tasked with improving the barely capable American trainees, but when her mission goes awry, she ends up on the run with one of the girls, an orphaned, eerily familiar eight-year-old.

Sharpe’s twisty spy-thriller is rife with intrigue, humor, and heart, featuring stunning betrayals and a moving arc of self-discovery for Yelena. For fans of Marvel and those simply in search of their next action-packed narrative, White Widow delivers a page-turning espionage thriller.

From Random House, White Widow: Secret Sisters is out September 2, 2025 and for readers ages 12+. Order it now from Bookshop, Amazon, your local book shop, and more.