--Avid Ashley Global Ebook Awards, USA Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest, USA Literary Titan Book Awards, USA The Wishing Shelf Awards, UK Read Freely, UK Rosetta Melki, an idealist whose dream of starting a worldwide charity has been all but crushed by her sole-parent struggles, is enchanted by . Lillibridge's tale about a gold-obsessed empire (and the sprites they oppress: elfin clan dwellers whose currency of choice is kindness) has evoked a memory Rosetta cannot explain. Rosetta's website surrounding the reading group she's begun with friends has inspired the emergence of other Lillibridge book clubs. Her own Sydney group meets fortnightly at a cosy lamplit cottage, the rental home she secured to escape a gruesome intruder. In a more affluent part of Sydney, finance executive Matthew Weissler (polished, successful, admired) has been questioning his slave-to-the-dollar existence and his marriage to a tantrum-throwing shopaholic. And now he's questioning his sanity after finding he's been followed by an elf. Rosetta's intruder still lurks in the shadows, but what is the stranger's game? Prowler from the suburb Rosetta and her teenaged daughter fled? Or traveller from the past, sent to suppress an ancient memory... ... Like a delicate piece of lace ... masterfully looped and twisted into intricate patterns ... ... The characterisation is very convincing; the scenes atmospheric; and unexpected twists kept me guessing outcomes. A romance element adds another dimension to this absorbing novel. The book has a depth that appealed to me on so many levels. What surprised me as much as anything was to discover that this was the author's debut novel ... A deep, gripping and wildly creative plot. Brilliantly enchanting ... I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The first thing that struck me about Terry's debut novel was her seemingly effortless ability to entwine the contemporary and historical aspects of the story. At times the writing is nothing short of spellbinding.