A mix of awkward misfit and misunderstood genius, Ophelia cares little about appearances or other people’s opinions of her. She possesses two special gifts: an unrivaled talent for reading the pasts of objects and the ability to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful, if somewhat dull existence on the ark of Anima is interrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, a taciturn and influential member of a powerful clan from a distant ark, the cold and icy Pole. Ophelia must follow her fiancé to the towering city of Citaceleste, where nobody can be trusted. There, in the company of her inscrutable future husband, Ophelia slowly realizes that she is a pawn in a political game that will have far-reaching ramifications not only for her but for her entire world.
Lose yourself in the world of the arks and in the company of an unforgettable character in this French runaway hit by debut author, Christelle Dabos. The first installment in the bestselling Mirror Visitor Quartet, A Winter’s Promise introduces readers to a remarkable heroine and to the richly imagined universe of the arks: floating celestial islands governed by the spirits of immortal ancestors.
A fantastical story of intrigue and suspense, A Winter’s Promise will find fans among readers of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen, and N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth series.
“A fantastic epic, definitely, but also a coming-of-age novel, this first volume makes a strong impression. A novelist is born.”—Le Figaro
“Today, The Mirror Visitor stands on the same shelf as Harry Potter.”—Elle
“Readers’ passion for this series comes from the pleasure of walking up and down the world of the Arks, weightless floating islands that are ruled by family spirits and humans gifted with special powers.”—Le Monde
Christelle Dabos
Christelle Dabos was born on the Côte d’Azur in 1980 and grew up in a home filled with classical music and historical games. She now lives in Belgium. The Mirror Visitor, her debut series, won the Gallimard Jeunesse-RTL-Télérama First Novel Competition, and every book in the series has proved to be a runaway bestseller. A Winter’s Promise was shortlisted for Waterstones’ Children’s Book Prize in 2019.