Moonlands — Steven Savile

Ashley Hawthorne thinks of herself as the Cuckoo Girl. No matter where she is it feels like she doesn't quite belong. Everything changes when her eccentric aunt, Elspeth Grimm, leaves her the key to a safety deposit box in a bank that was destroyed during the Blitz. That box contains the first part of her true inheritance: an umbrella, a battered old notebook, a pair of aviator's goggles and a locket. Each of these gifts is a unique part of who she really is.Elspeth is a descendent of the brothers who purged this world of monsters by trapping them within the Concord. She is the Oracle. A keeper of all the knowledge we have amassed about the creatures of the Fae and other worlds. And someone intent on destroying the Concord has murdered her!When Ashley looks through the goggles that night she sees curious creatures on the roof of the house across the street watching her. To the naked eye they look like crows but they are not. It is the first glimpse of the other place -- the place where she will finally belong. The journal is crammed full of things, but there's no actual writing in it. Ash decides she's going to use the journal, and begins the first entry: My name is Ashley Hawthorne. The ink fades so she writes it again. My name is Ashley Hawthorne. Again the ink fades. She tries again and again until the ink scratches out an entirely different first line: That is not who you are! "Savile's writing is achingly beautiful and sweeps the reader away into a fantastic world they'll never want to leave. The story grips you by the throat and doesn't let go, leaving you hungry for more. The author mixes political intrigue and epic fantasy in a coming-of-age story that will leave readers desperate to know how it's all going to turn out for the young heroine and the assassin sent to hunt her down. This is a classic in the making." Debbie Viguie, NYT #1 Bestselling Author of The Wicked series