Perfect for fans of Tamora Pierce, Maggie Stiefvater and Cassandra Clare this is a literary fantasy about war, racial identity and first love, in which Frost has left her homeland to travel to the neighbouring country of Ruan in the hope of finding a deity she believes will rid her of a curse. It is a refreshing and provocative real-world take on the fantasy genre: in this world there is no magic and the setting is more akin to Northern India or Tibet than the usual Tolkien-inspired pseudo-Europe. Zoe Marriott's first novel, The Swan Kingdom, was chosen as a USBBY Outstanding International Book. Her third book, Shadows on the Moon, won the prestigious Sasakawa Prize.
A literary and compelling story about war, revenge and first love from a talented fantasy writerSeventeen-year-old Frost has left her homeland to travel to the neighbouring country of Ruan in the hope of finding the Goddess in the Fire, a deity she believes will rid her of the curse that has plagued her all her life. If anyone causes Frost to bleed, a wolf demon, a god of the Other, takes over her body. While in this berserker rage the true Frost is trapped within her own body and forced to watch as the Wolf kills everyone in its path. On her quest to find the goddess, Frost meets two of members of the Ruan military force sworn to protect the country's borders from neighbouring rebel fighters: the tortured Arian and the charismatic Luca. Frost confides in Luca about the Wolf and Luca promises to help her to control her rage. Over the coming weeks, under Luca's guidance she begins to overcome the Wolf within. She also begins to fall in love with Luca - while Arian begins to fall for her.
Zoe Marriott lives in North East Lincolnshire with two cats, named Echo and Hero, and the Devil Hound, otherwise known as Finn. She says of Shadows on the Moon, "I never liked Cinderella as a little girl. She seemed like the worst kind of wimp to me, and I hated the fact that she needed someone else to come along and rescue her. Then one day I was thinking about a completely different idea for a book set in fairy-tale Japan - and suddenly the two story ideas collided in my head, and it occurred to me: what if Cinderella wasn't a wimp at all? What if she was strong and brave - and out for revenge all along? And so Shadows on the Moon was born."
