Synopsis

WATTYS 2018 SHORTLIST

"Every person is a book, Yael. You just need to find the right way to read them."

In a land where a deadly curse forces all to wear masks, Yael steals the mask and identity of a noblewoman to infiltrate the nobility and find her abducted sister, but gets sucked into a twisted game of spies.

Eighteen-year-old Yael was a talented mask-maker apprentice-but not anymore. Now, she's a spy, an imposter and a murderess.

In the land of Vynam, all must wear masquerade masks to ward off the curse of the spectres, ghost-like beings that kill with a single touch.

After the Somaer family, the richest nobles in Vynam, abduct her sister and her parents are put to death, Yael steals the mask and identity of a noblewoman to infiltrate the nobility, find her sister and avenge her parents.

Her only chance of success-and survival-is if she can outplay the shrewdest spymasters in Vynam. When her search for her sister unearths dangerous knowledge, she alone holds the power to destroy the precarious peace of the noble houses, and shake all of Vynam to its very core.

But the cost might be her sister's life.