Фрэнсис Хардинг - A Skinful of Shadows

I would also like to apologize to King Charles I, for forcing a fictional version of him to sign a highly nefarious document. I hope he will forgive me, and refrain from sending spectral spaniels after me in revenge.

Frances Hardinge spent a large part of her childhood in a huge old house that inspired her to write strange stories from an early age. She read English at Oxford University, and then got a job at a software company. However, a few years later her first children’s novel, Fly By Night , was snapped up by Macmillan. The book went on to publish to huge critical acclaim and win the Branford Boase First Novel Award. She has been nominated for, and won, several other awards, including being shortlisted for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal for Cuckoo Song and winning the coveted Costa Book of the Year Award for The Lie Tree .

THE LIE TREE

FRANCES HARDINGE

The leaves were cold and slightly clammy. There was no mistaking them. She had seen their likeness painstakingly sketched in her father’s journal. This was his greatest secret, his treasure and his undoing. The Tree of Lies. Now it was hers, and the journey he had never finished stretched out before her.

When Faith’s father is found dead under mysterious circumstances, she is determined to untangle the truth from the lies. Searching through his belongings for clues she discovers a strange tree. A tree that feeds off whispered lies and bears fruit that reveals hidden secrets.

But as Faith’s untruths spiral out of control, she discovers that where lies seduce, truths shatter . . .

CUCKOO SONG

FRANCES HARDINGE

The first things to shift were the doll’s eyes, the beautiful grey-green glass eyes. Slowly they swivelled, until their gaze was resting on Triss’s face. Then the tiny mouth moved, opened to speak.‘ Who do you think you are? This is my family.’

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; she keeps waking up with leaves in her hair, and her sister seems terrified of her.When it all gets too much and she starts to cry, her tears are like cobwebs . . .

Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest to find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family — before it’s too late . . .

A FACE LIKE GLASS

FRANCES HARDINGE

In the underground city of Caverna, the world’s most skilled craftsmen create delicacies beyond compare: cheese that can show you the future and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even as they slit your throat. The people here are unlike any other: they have faces as blank as untouched snow. Expressions must be learned, and the famous Facesmiths will teach a person to display joy, despair or fear — at a price.

Into this dark and distrustful world tumbles Neverfell, a girl with no memory and a face so incredible to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. For Neverfell has a face that shows her emotions. A face incapable of lying. A face that is a dangerous threat and an irresistible treasure — a face that some would kill for . . .

Also by Frances Hardinge

Fly By Night

Verdigris Deep

Gullstruck Island

Twilight Robbery

A Face Like Glass

Cuckoo Song

The Lie Tree

First published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books

This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan Children’s Books

an imprint of Pan Macmillan

20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR

Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-5098-3551-5

Copyright © Frances Hardinge 2017

Cover illustration by Aitch

The right of Frances Hardinge to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Visit www.panmacmillan.comto read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.