About this item
A beautifully written story of friendship, discovery, myths, and magic that the London Times called "reminiscent of fantasy greats such as Philip Pullman and Neil Gaiman." Legends say that the island of Joya was once a place where songbirds sang in every tree and the islanders were free to come and go as they pleased. That was before the harsh-ruling Governor arrived, and ravens drove out the native birds. Now there are no songbirds, and the people are forbidden to travel beyond the forest that separates them from the rest of the island. But for Isabella, the legends of her island home have always seemed like more than just stories. And when a series of mysterious events shakes the community, it's Isabella - daughter to the island's only mapmaker - who will lead a party of explorers into the forest in search of answers.
About the Author
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a poet, playwright, and author. Her books for children and young adults include the bestselling The Girl of Ink & Stars, The Island at the End of Everything, The Way Past Winter, and A Secret of Birds & Bone (2020) . The Deathless Girls was her first YA novel. Her debut novel for adults is The Mercies (February 2020) . Between them, her children's books have won numerous awards including Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the Historical Association Young Quills Award, and the Blackwell's Children's Book of the Year. They have been shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize, the Little Rebels Prize, the Branford Boase Award, the Blue Peter Best Story Award, Costa Children's Book Prize, and Foyles' Children's Book of the Year, amongst others.The Mercies debuted at number one of the The Times bestseller list, is a Sunday Time bestseller, and was selected for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. It is listed for the prestigious Prix Femina in France, and was called 'unquestionably the book of the 2018 London Book Fair' by The Bookseller.Kiran lives in Oxford with her husband, the artist Tom de Freston, and their rescue cat, Luna.
