Maresi came to the Red Abbey when she was thirteen, in the Hunger Winter. Before then, she had only heard rumours of its existence in secret folk tales. In a world where girls aren't allowed to learn or do as they please, an island inhabited solely by women sounded like a fantasy. But now Maresi is here, and she knows it is real. She is safe. Then one day Jai - tangled fair hair, clothes stiff with dirt, scars on her back - arrives on a ship. She has fled to the island to escape terrible danger and unimaginable cruelty. And the men who hurt her will stop at nothing to find her. Now the women and girls of the Red Abbey must use all their powers and ancient knowledge to combat the forces that wish to destroy them. And Maresi, haunted by her own nightmares, must confront her very deepest, darkest fears. A story of friendship and survival, magic and wonder, beauty and terror, Maresi will grip you and hold you spellbound.

 

This book was published 2016 by Pushkin Children's Books .

Maria Turtschaninoff was born in 1977 and has been writing fairy tales since she was five. She is the author of six novels about magical worlds, has been awarded the Finlandia Junior in 2014, the Swedish YLE Literature Prize, the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland Award and has twice won the Society of Swedish Literature Prize. She was also nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2013 and 2017 and the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Annie Prime is a literary translator of French, Swedish, Russian, and Spanish. Since receiving her MA in translation from University College London, she has translated five books.