The Kingdom of Little Wounds Audiobook

It is while I stitch together the Queen’s gown, on the night her eldest daughter is to die, that I first sense an uneasy power.

On the eve of Princess Sophia’s wedding, the Scandinavian city of Skyggehavn prepares to fete the occasion with a sumptuous display of riches. Yet beneath the veneer of celebration, a shiver of darkness creeps through the palace halls. A mysterious illness plagues the royal family, threatening the lives of the throne’s heirs, and a courtier’s wolfish hunger for the king’s favors sets a devious plot in motion.

Here in the palace at Skyggehavn, things are seldom as they seem—and when a single errant prick of a needle sets off a series of events that will alter the course of history, the fates of seamstress Ava Bingen and mute nursemaid Midi Sorte become irrevocably intertwined. As they navigate a tangled web of palace intrigue, power-lust, and deception, Ava and Midi must carve out their own survival any way they can.

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“The events at court are recounted in richlydetailed prose that renders immediate the sights and smells of a time whenscience was deeply intertwined with superstition, and politics [were] a bloodsport…The novel demands and rewards full immersion in its account of theeveryday life, beliefs, and medical practices of the royals, and readers willdefinitely come away with a (dis)taste for the cultural history of theRenaissance…Cokal skillfully and unapologetically blurs the lines between fairytale and history.”

— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)