When a strange and wild boy walks into her life, Tess is forced to confront a past she had long ago forgotten Fourteen-year-old Tess can't remember the first ten years of her life—and if they were anything like her life now, she'd prefer that they stay forgotten. Since her mother's death, she and her disabled stepfather have lived without a phone, electricity, or even much food on the table. At school, her classmates think she's weird, but she's bigger and stronger than all of them. And at least she has music to keep her company. When a mysterious stranger named Kamo shows up looking for his dad, he is convinced that Tess and her stepfather may have the answers he's been searching for. The more time she spends with Kamo, the more she realizes how much they have in common. Then she hears a song on the radio called "Secret Star"—a song so mesmerizing that every time she hears it, Tess's past comes bubbling up, and she knows she won't be able to keep...

Every action has a consequence in this fantasy tale that follows a couple fleeing their destiny Cerilla, the sheltered, castle-bound protagonist of this inventive and moving fantasy novel, is determined to escape her bloody fate: marriage to a king who is to be sacrificed after she bears his child. But Cerilla makes the monumental mistake of falling in love with her god-like husband to be—Arlen of the Sacred Isle—and he with her. Arlen's devoted comrade Lonn takes Arlen's place so the lovers can flee. But their escape is just the beginning of an odyssey marked by struggle and hardship as they cope with hyperboreal storms, near starvation, and attack by a band of armed horsemen. As they journey across harsh and fantastic lands, finally making a home beyond the Mountains of the Mysteries, Cerilla discovers how much she is willing to give up in the name of love. Featuring a mythical world where horses gallop across water and serpents live...

A shape-shifter and an errant soul share an unbreakable bond and a curse, and must join together to fulfill an ancient magical prophecy in Nancy Springer's final installment of the Book of Isle When Prince Dair was a small child and still in wolf form, he saw his future in the loom of Ylim, the weaving seeress as old as the world. It was prophesied that he, the changeling son of King Trevyn of Isle, would travel far from his home and his loved ones, carrying his magic to the mainland. For the first time, Dair saw the golden swan, and the face of the stranger to whom he was eternally linked, the wanderer called Frain. But this mysterious youth who can feel everything Dair feels—his emotions, his anxieties, his pain—bears an obligation to a lost love and a curse of dark enchantment. Still, the bond that unites Dair and Frain is stronger than iron, and in their mystical union rests the fate of a troubled land. Reviewers have compared the...

The art of storytelling and the power of a mother's love imbue this feminist fantasy novel—a contemporary riff on the tale of the frog prince Once upon a time there was a middle-aged woman whose husband dumped her the month after their twentieth anniversary . . . Divorced, overweight Buffy Murphy is not a happy camper. One April afternoon, she walks into the woods . . . and meets a talking bullfrog. He asks her to kiss him so he can transform back into his princely self. This being modern-day Pennsylvania, Buffy figures she's better off with a talking amphibian than a cheating husband, so she takes him home. The fun really starts when her rebellious teenage daughter, Emily, kisses him. Suddenly, Emily and her handsome prince have vanished into the land of Fair Peril, an enchanted realm that can only be accessed through a portal in the local mall. Aided by a gay librarian named LeeVon and hindered by her fairy-godmother-in-law, Fay,...

In the ancient moors of Scotland, the king of Calidon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. When a mysterious fey stranger appears to save the king, he also carries a secret that could tear the royal family apart. The kingdom's only hope will lie with two young men raised worlds apart. Aric is the beloved heir to the throne of Calidon; Albaric is clearly of noble origin yet strangely out of place. The Oddling Prince is a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other is such that it defies impending warfare, sundering seas, fated hatred, and the very course of time itself. In her long-awaited new fantasy novel, Nancy Springer (the Books of Isle series) explores the darkness of the human heart as well as its unceasing capacity for love.

In the Kingdom of Isle, where the Sun Kings reign with the power of the Book of the Suns, Hal and Alan are given a mission. They must use the ancient strength of wisdom to destroy the evil that plagues the kingdom. The two blood brothers venture throughout the land fighting the many forms that this evil takes so they can arrive at their destiny.

When a young man mysteriously shows up in the stables of Lord Robley and demonstrates an amazing ability to braid horse manes and tails, the Lord and Lady are quite taken with his abilities and have him stay on. Sure, he doesn't speak a single word and there's truly something odd about him, but his talents at braiding are second to none. When the Lady finds herself in need of the man's skills for her own head of hair, the situation is looked upon as a bit scandalous, but nobody is prepared for the outcome that befalls them as a result. A short story.

In the second book of Nancy Springer's remarkable Sea King fantasy trilogy, a king's quest for the survival of his world leads him and his bond brother to a terrifying realm of the dead beneath the water Once, great kings reigned in mighty, teeming cities. Now six small tribes inhabit the known world—and their world is nearing its end. When Rad Korridun, king of the Seal Kindred Tribe, first encountered Dannoc, the troubled chieftain saw clearly that the man was mad, while Dan thought Kor was the god he had long been seeking. However, the unique connection they shared could not be ignored, and a powerful brotherhood was born. The arrival of Tassida, the beautiful mystery, strengthened that bond and threatened it as well. Now that the beasts of their world have fallen prey to the terrible hunger of the Devourers, the survival of the tribes depends on these three whom Destiny is leading to the undersea land of the dead. There, Dannoc seeks to...

Morgan is a willful, mischievous girl with mismatched eyes of emerald and violet. A girl of magic, whose childhood ends when King Uther Pendragon murders her father and steals away her mother. Then Pendragon dies and, in a warring country with no one to claim the throne, there are many who want Morgan dead. But Morgan has power, and magic. She is able to change the course of history, to become other, to determine her own fate-and, thus the fate of Britain. She will become Morgan le Fay."Springer wields language like a sword, and both blood and flowers spring to these pages in vivid hues." (Booklist, starred review)