Publisher Description
Stories from the world of The Hero and the Crown and other magical places by a New York Times–bestselling Newbery Medal winner. Robin McKinley returns to the mythical setting of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword in this “thrilling, satisfying, and thought-provoking collection” featuring two stories set in the world of Damar, plus three other fantasy tales featuring adventurous, pragmatic, and heroic young women (Publishers Weekly). There’s mute Lily, in “The Healer,” who has the power to help others, and receives a startling opportunity to find her voice when a mysterious mage stumbles into town. And Queen Ruen, who is at the mercy of a power-hungry uncle until she encounters a shape-changer in “The Stagman.” In “Touk’s House,” a maiden who has grown up with a witch and a troll has a chance to become a princess, but she must decide whether she would really live happily ever after. When a curse follows Coral to her new husband’s farm in “Buttercups,” the pair has a choice: Succumb to defeat or find a way to turn a disastrous enchantment into a fruitful new venture. Finally, travel to upstate New York with Annabelle. In the title story, her family moves shortly after her sixteenth birthday, and just as she starts to adjust to her new life in a small town, a plan to build a superhighway threatens her new home. But a strange box hidden in a secret attic in the new house may be the answer. This is a delightful assortment of tales from an author with “a remarkable talent for melding the real and the magical into a single, believable whole” (Booklist).
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About Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley has won various
awards and citations for her writing, including the Newbery Medal for The
Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword.
Her other books include Sunshine, the New York Times bestseller Spindle’s
End, two novel-length retellings of the fairy tale Beauty and the
Beast, and a retelling of the Robin
Hood legend, The Outlaws of Sherwood. She lives with her
husband, English writer Peter Dickinson.
About the Narrators
Liz Pearce, audio narrator and actress, has performed on Broadway, at Radio City Music Hall, in London’s West End, in national and International tours, and at countless regional theaters across the country. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music with a BFA degree in musical theater.
Laura Knight Keating, an Audie Award-winning narrator, is an actress who has appeared on stage, in films, and on television shows, including Boardwalk Empire, Hope and Faith, and Lipstick Jungle.