I am the girl with no name ... I have a secret I must never tell. If I do, they will come after me - the Protector and his men.

Only a number branded on her arm betrays the orphan girl's past. When she arrives at Murkmere Hall to be a kitchen maid, they call her Scuff, and little guess she has committed a terrible crime. Haunted by her dark secret, all Scuff can do is pray to the divine beings - the birds - for forgiveness.

Now, five years later, the past is catching up with Scuff. Hunted from all sides, she flees Murkmere, only to be forced back to the cruel confines of the Capital, and the Orphans' Home where it all began.

Set in the capital city, this has a very different feel from Murkmere, but is still grounded in the bird tradition, superstition and religion that haunts the first book.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-17 years.

There are 352 pages in this book. This book was published 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton General Division .

Patricia Elliott has written nine novels for children and young adults. Her first novel with Hodder, The Ice Boy , won the Fidler Award for a First Novel and was shortlisted for the Branford-Boase among other awards. Her second, Murkmere , was long-listed for the Guardian Fiction Award and she has since been short-listed for many others, including the Calderdale and the Wirral Paperback of the Year.