Rachel Hartman, Tess of the Road - Young Adult Speculative Fiction!

*Join us for this FREE Lit Live! event -- meet the author and get your book signed!*

Village Books is thrilled to welcome the author of the bestsellers, Seraphina and Shadow Scale, to the readings gallery!

In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons get to be whomever they want. But Seraphina’s half sister Tess is a troublemaker. You can’t make a scene at your sister’s wedding and break a relative’s nose with one punch (no matter how pompous he is) and not suffer the consequences. As her family plans to send her to a nunnery, Tess yanks on her boots and sets out on a journey across the Southlands, alone and pretending to be a boy. Where Tess is headed is a mystery, even to her. So when she runs into an old friend, it’s a stroke of luck. This friend is a quigutl—a subspecies of dragon—who gives her both a purpose and protection on the road. But Tess is guarding a troubling secret. Her tumultuous past is a heavy burden to carry, and the memories she’s tried to forget threaten to expose her in more ways than one.

Rachel Hartman once again pushes the boundaries of genre, addressing issues that are rarely dealt with in epic fantasy and balancing them perfectly with adventure and light humor. With writing that is beautifully crafted and irresistibly powerful, Tess of the Road is at once both a rich fantasy adventure and an inspiring and indispensable reminder that there is always a way back from trauma and grief.

As a child, Rachel Hartman played cello, lip-synched Mozart operas with her sisters, and fostered the deep love of music that inspired much of Seraphina. Rachel earned a degree in comparative literature but eschewed graduate school in favor of bookselling and drawing comics. Born in Kentucky, she has lived in Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, England, and Japan. She now lives with her family in Vancouver, Canada. To learn more, please visit SeraphinaBooks.com or RachelHartmanBooks.com.

 “Triumphant. . . . Absolutely essential.” —Booklist, starred review

 “Surprising, rewarding, and enlightening, both a fantasy adventure and a meta discourse on consent, shame, and female empowerment.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

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