Under the Willow Root

WATTYS SHORT LIST! When sixteen-year-old Sasha Nikolayeva opens her eyes on a horrifying tableau of dead and dying bodies, she can only hope to wake up. But the nightmare, if that's what it is, doesn't end. Instead, Sasha finds herself rendered mute and enslaved by a society which doesn't recognize her as a human being. To the citizens of Kingsgarden, "thralls" like Sasha are automatons brought into being by mages, incapable of speech or independent thought. Hidden behind a carefully crafted mask of soulless neutrality, Sasha silently endures starvation, degradation, and physical abuse at the hands of her captors as she watches and waits for an opportunity to escape into the glittering, majestic capital city of Kingsgarden.

Despite visions of her old life which strongly suggest that she is suffering from some sickness of the mind--a neurological disorder, or perhaps simple insanity--Sasha is determined to take matters into her own hands and find her way home, whether she is imprisoned truly in a foreign land or only in her own mind. But as time goes by, Sasha finds herself drawn to the beauty and vitality of the City...and to the handsome Beastspeaker who only wants to give her his heart. Sasha knows she has no choice but to leave it all behind in order to go home, but she can't help but begin to wonder if "home" is where she thought it was and if the line between reality and madness is as fixed as it seems.

This is a very early version of my novel "A Garden of Light and Shadows" which is currently under agent consideration. Cross your fingers for me!