“A gripping YA sci-fi saga whose plucky teenage protagonists are trying to reclaim their identities and restore the natural balance of their world.”

Dearest Tam,

Can you keep a secret?

Elder Farley is waiting for my parents’ permission for Liam, his son, to propose. You know me well enough to know this was not my idea! Dad thinks it’s a power move by the elders... They’re suspicious of me not yet being 'of age'. If Dad says no, Liam’s parents will demand to know why a long engagement isn’t an option. But if Dad says yes, I’ll be found out even sooner, and the whole village will learn of our wedding night...

Tam, there’s so much I haven’t told you. We decided to keep the truth between us—me, Mum, and Dad. Mother Jennings knew, too, but she was careful with our secrets and took them to her grave. Jennings was Mum’s doula for when Colm and I were born, and I think she helped Mother Alder look after you when you were first adopted.

I am who you think I am, Tam, but there’s something I haven’t told you—something that shouldn’t even matter, but it could be the death of me if this marriage is forced. And we both know consent has been consigned to history in this place.

Peace of mind has been so hard to find. I break curfew to steal time alone, hoping for answers, but none come. I walk to the pond in the forest and think about my life. There are too many secrets, Tam. I wish I were made of water so my flesh could flow, escape, circle and reshape into a form that doesn’t risk starvation for my entire family.

Remember when they lined us up in the Great Hall of the Temple of the Children to announce classes would be segregated? As soon as my name was called, I wanted to run. Half our friends were moved to different classes, and in that instant, I felt a part of me sawn off—separated, locked away in a room the rest of me couldn’t enter. That’s how I felt then and that’s how I feel now... divided against myself and twisted into the patterns of my fear.

Tam, would you still be my friend if people called me a monster? If I were an outcast? I think you would, because the Tahmina I know is too wise to believe in monsters. But I have to remember that I would be putting you in—

Nóra slammed the quill down and struck the desk with her fist, whispering 'Stupid! Stupid!' She ripped the letter into pieces, crushed them into a ball, and tossed her words into the fire. She slid the quill and ink into a slim drawer, hidden in the side of the dining table, and blew out the candle. Then she wrapped herself in her grey woollen cloak, fastened the button with shaking hands, and stepped out into the snow.