With thanks to my brilliant, tender editor, Nan McNab, without whom my characters would have died of thirst or hunger or been half mad with sleep deprivation, and who would certainly have seen too many full moons. Without whom, in fact, I would be lost.

A warm thankyou to Melinda Dean, who examined a rough manuscript and found many a chink through which the wind would have whistled without her canny eye. Thanks also to Heather Giles, my indispensable helper, who has long been first reader of my manuscripts.

A final heartfelt thankyou to the lovely Penguins: to Jean-marie Morosin who began the journey with us; to Katrina Lehman who rode shotgun to bring us to a timely end; to Cathy Larsen for her fabulous covers; and especially to Laura Harris, who allowed the split that will enable me to finish Elspeth’s story properly.

VIKING

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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2011

Text copyright © Isobelle Carmody, 2011
Map by Cathy Larsen © Penguin Group (Australia)

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

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ISBN: 978-1-74253-421-3