"An exciting novel with magic and serial killers.... One of the hottest books coming out."-Hypable.com
Fans of Marie Lu, Leigh Bardugo, and Kristin Cashore will be captivated by this stunning first book in a must-have new fantasy trilogy about a spy who can vanish at will and who discovers that monsters, mystery, and magic are also lurking-just out of sight.
Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people's senses.
It's a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it's a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned-crime pays.
She's being paid very well indeed to infiltrate the grand house of Mrs. Och and report back on the odd characters who live there and the suspicious dealings that take place behind locked doors.
But what Julia discovers shakes her to the core. She certainly never imagined that the traitor in the house would turn out to be . . . her.
Murder, thievery, witchcraft, betrayal--Catherine Egan builds a dangerous world where her fierce and flawed heroine finds that even a girl who can vanish can't walk away from her own worst deeds.
"The first book in the Witch's Child trilogy has adventure, murder, romance, intrigue, and betrayal with a 16-year-old heroine that is both fierce and flawed at the same time. Catherine Egan is an exciting new talent." -Hypable.com
"Egan's debut novel sparkles. A beautifully rendered world and exquisite sense of timing ensure a page-turning experience." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Readers will find themselves immediately immersed in the narrative and invested in the fate of Julia, who is both feisty and flawed. There is a richness to this inaugural volume of the Witch's Child trilogy, and readers will be hard pressed to put it down." -Booklist starred review
"Julia's a wonderful, fully realized heroine with moral dilemmas aplenty. For those readers waiting for the sequel to Marie Lu's The Rose Society, a well-realized page-turner in the same vein." -Kirkus Reviews
"A fast-paced, deftly written fantasy with a complex and memorable protagonist. I can't wait for the next installment!" -Juliet Marillier, author of Wildwood Dancing
"Julia's complexities fascinate. In the suspenseful, action-packed debut of the Witch's Child trilogy, Catherine Egan spins out a dark and deep world of magic and crime." -Shelf Awareness
"Following Julia and her comrades makes for a tricky, frightening, relentlessly exciting adventure colored with moral ambiguity and magical intrigue." -The Horn Book Magazine
"This is a great choice for true fantasy lovers. The worldbuilding is exceptionally done. A truly outstanding first book in what is sure to be a sought-after series."--VOYA
"Right from the start, it's nearly impossible to put this book down. Equally difficult is pinning down its genre, as it has elements of fantasy, mystery, romance, action, and adventure-there's even a search for a serial killer. Egan's world-building is as richly realized as her characters. Julia's home of Spira City, a world of ritual cleansings, witch drownings, and religious power struggles, resembles medieval Europe; Julia is feisty, fierce and believably flawed, and her many dilemmas and difficult moral choices add real depth to an already-suspenseful plot. Happily, this is the first of a series, called The Witch's Child, and there are more adventures to come." -- Lynn Rutan, The Booklist Reader
From the Hardcover edition.
CATHERINE EGAN grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Since then, she has lived on a volcanic island in Japan (which erupted while she was there and sent her hurtling straight into the arms of her now-husband), in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing, on an oil rig in the middle of Bohai Bay, then in New Jersey, and now in New Haven, Connecticut.
She is currently occupied with writing books and fighting dragon armies with her warrior children. You can read more about her at catherineegan.com and follow her on twitter @bycatherineegan.
ONE
The floor is cold under my bare feet. Florence and Chloe are breathing deeply, not stirring. I would guess it to be an hour or more after midnight. The rusted springs of my cot shriek when I rise, but the two sleeping figures are undisturbed. They are used to the sound, no doubt, as the beds scream like murder victims whenever we roll over. I step past their beds lightly, let my hand slide around the doorknob. The door doesn't squeak--just last week I oiled the hinges and took apart, cleaned, and reassembled the knob. There was nothing to be done about the bedsprings. Moonlight slips between the curtains, giving some light to the little attic room where we housemaids sleep, but the staircase is dark. In one hand I have a candle, unlit in its iron holder. With the other hand I shut the door behind me.
The main bedrooms are on the third floor, along with the bathroom. The clock on the landing tells me it is nearing two in the morning, but I can still see a light under Frederick's door. That doesn't worry me. Most likely he fell asleep over a book. The stairs leading to the second floor are wider. I skip down them quickly, a hand to the wall to guide me in the dark. I know every floorboard that creaks, and my descent is soundless. Here is the library, the music room, Mrs. Och's reading room, and my destination tonight: Professor Baranyi's study. We do not clean this room, so I have never been inside. It is locked at night.
Not that a lock is any great impediment.
There is no light coming from under the door, but I press my ear to it and listen just in case. With my free hand, I slip a pin from my hair and flatten it out. I'm not a practiced lockpick, but I have the basic skills and get it open in under a minute.
I've stitched a match into the hem of my nightdress. Shutting the door behind me, I feel my way to the hearth and strike the match against the stone. Once the candle is lit, the room leaps into view around me, bookcases looming, the furniture sending monstrous, grasping shadows my way. I've never been one to quake at shadows: I make my way straight for Professor Baranyi's desk.
The professor is not a tidy man, to put it mildly. Precariously stacked books and papers cover every inch of space. Three ashtrays overflow with cigarette butts, there are two half-full glasses perched dangerously atop a pile of large leather-bound folders, and his inkpot lies open, pen leaking onto the blotter.
It would help if I knew what I was looking for.
A soft sound behind me--my imagination turns it into a handkerchief being pulled out of a pocket--and I freeze.
"Hooo," comes a fluting little voice. I nearly laugh aloud with relief. On a perch in the corner is a small brown owl, blinking at me.
"Sorry," I whisper. "Go back to sleep."
"Hooo," murmurs the owl, shrugging its wings and resettling itself.
I turn back to Professor Baranyi's desk, lift my candle, and scan the books and papers around the blotter, whatever he was looking at before he retired to bed. Esme taught me to read, and I can read quickly and well, even the most ungainly, misspelled scrawl. I shuffle through his papers: an old clipping from a journal about a lake somewhere that has mysteriously dried up, lists of names with some of them crossed out, figures without context, lists of cities and countries. A circle around one name in a long list: Jahara Sandor--Hostorak 15c. That brings me up short. Hostorak is the impenetrable prison where witches and folklore practitioners and other abusers of magic await execution. It is a great gray monolith behind the parliament, the ugliest building in all of Spira City, and the most terrifying. I commit the name, Jahara Sandor, and 15c to memory, without knowing what they might mean.
At the back of the study, there is a long workbench with scientific instruments, but I don't know how they work. I turn to the bookshelves instead, which line the entire room. At the bottom of one
Über den Autor
CATHERINE EGAN grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Since then, she has lived on a volcanic island in Japan (which erupted while she was there and sent her hurtling straight into the arms of her now-husband), in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing, on an oil rig in the middle of Bohai Bay, then in New Jersey, and now in New Haven, Connecticut.
She is currently occupied with writing books and fighting dragon armies with her warrior children. You can read more about her at catherineegan.com and follow her on twitter @bycatherineegan.
Klappentext
"An exciting novel with magic and serial killers.... One of the hottest books coming out."-Hypable.com
Fans of Marie Lu, Leigh Bardugo, and Kristin Cashore will be captivated by this stunning first book in a must-have new fantasy trilogy about a spy who can vanish at will and who discovers that monsters, mystery, and magic are also lurking-just out of sight.
Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people's senses.
It's a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it's a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned-crime pays.
She's being paid very well indeed to infiltrate the grand house of Mrs. Och and report back on the odd characters who live there and the suspicious dealings that take place behind locked doors.
But what Julia discovers shakes her to the core. She certainly never imagined that the traitor in the house would turn out to be . . . her.
Murder, thievery, witchcraft, betrayal--Catherine Egan builds a dangerous world where her fierce and flawed heroine finds that even a girl who can vanish can't walk away from her own worst deeds.
