Lose yourself in the magical universe of the arks, brought to life in this mesmerising tale of intrigue and suspense.
Awkward misfit or misunderstood genius, Ophelia cares little about appearances. She possesses two special gifts: a talent for reading the pasts of objects and the ability to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful existence is interrupted when she is promised in marriage to a member of a powerful clan from a cold and distant ark. When our heroine is promoted to Vice-storyteller by the ancestral Spirit of Pole, she finds herself unexpectedly thrust into the public spotlight. Now that her powers are known to all, she is forced to reveal the nefarious plots that have been brewing beneath the golden rafters of Citaceleste and to throw herself into its political machinations. In this perilous situation, the only person she may be able to trust is Thorn, her enigmatic fiancé. As one after another influential courtier vanishes in suspicious circumstances, Ophelia again finds herself unintentionally implicated in an investigation that will lead her to see beyond Pole’s many illusions to the heart of the formidable truth.
“Fantasy fantastique!”—The Times (Best YA Books of the Year)
“An out-of-this-world, tugs-at-all-heart-strings, grips-you-at-every-page piece of writing.”—Stylist Magazine
“A steampunk Pride and Prejudice.”—Matthew Skelton, author of Endymion Spring
“Strange and compelling.”—The Guardian
“A glowing example of the rare thing that is the YA novel in translation.”—The Irish Times
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.