For the first nine years of her life, she was held in modern day slavery. She saw violence, she knew cold and hunger, she experienced the death of those close to her. It was no life for a child.

And now she is free.

But freedom isn’t so easy to adapt to, and there is so much to learn about life, about friendship, about being loved and valued. Nor can those first years of her life be easily forgotten. There is grieving to do, there are ghosts to be exorcised.

Marigold is a quaint mix of wisdom and naivety, a child who has seen too much, but not enough. That she could not settle easily is not surprising, but nobody expected her to run away. Nor is it clear that the man who finds her can be trusted.

This book is rich in the culture of the island, En-Somi. The customs are ancient, the dialect unique, and the story has a wealth of characters of all ages, from young Marigold whose tale this is, or Jarvis, a strange and frightening fellow modern-day slave, to the ancient bard, Olaf. Pick up this novel and you will find it hard to put it down again, and when you have read it, you will find it easy to believe that you have actually been there.