Selfia knows what it means to survive. After her father was brutally murdered, she fled into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her how to gather, hunt, follow a trail, and steal. But when her aunt is kidnapped, none of these skills will help rescue her. The only clue to both her aunt’s disappearance and her father’s murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book—a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of the magic this book contains, and the presence of a mysterious stranger with his own secrets, Selfia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened to her father. With overlapping stories of swashbuckling pirates and merciless assassins, is a brilliantly told adventure from an extraordinary new talent.