Winner of the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Young Adult Novel

An ALA/YALSA Best Book for Young Adults

Six years have passed since Paula and her sisters last danced in the magical glade of the Other Kingdom. Scholarly Paula now travels to the exotic and dangerous city of Istanbul to help her merchant father recover a fabled treasure of a lost religion, Cybele’s Gift. It is said that the owner of the artefact will be blessed with riches and good fortune.

In company with her newly-hired bodyguard Stoyan, Paula embarks on a search that quickly turns into a dangerous quest for truth and self-discovery. She must use all her wits and courage to work out whom she can trust, and how to decipher the mysterious messages she is receiving from the Other Kingdom. Pirates, ruthless merchants, murderers and the Mufti’s royal guard all stand in the way of finding Cybele’s secret.

“Juliet Marillier is among the most skilled of fantasy writers” Sara Douglass