Friends and family on the farm know that Loesie makes up most of the things she says about magic. So the one time she tells the truth, they don't believe her.
Johanna sees the past when she touches anything made of wood. A basket made of twigs tells her that an attack on the port city of Saardam is imminent. As daughter of a rich merchant, she belongs to a class where it is forbidden to speak of magic, she can't warn anyone. Worse, it seems that the attack is in response to something done by the royal family.
'This is a book about childhood, but it is not a mere literary essay, it is a work of the widest learning, exploring the whole field of the subject ... a book rich in ideas, rich in information, rich in wisdom ...indeed, a kind of Anatomy of Childhood.' The Listener 'An enchanting book, and one that is certain of deepening affection in every house into which it finds its way.' Observer 'Only Walter de la Mare could have devised these ceremonies and been the master of them. In this conjuration of childhood he has amassed its evidence as displayed in many autobiographies, and has set against this the letters, diaries, stories and verses of these children ... His company ranges from mill hands and chimney sweeps to two queens of England; it embraces the whole gamut of the English poets; mathematicians and philosophers, though not so plentiful, are discovered to have been children once.' New Statesman
Continued from book 2 Johanna, Roald, Nellie and Loesie have come to Florisheim finding many of their kinsmen there. The survivors from the burning of Saardam who have come here are the nobles who were never great supporters the old king, and it is likely that they won’t support his son either, even if he was normal. They support his marriage to Johanna even less and Johanna’s position as the new king’s wife would be improved immensely if she produced an heir, but so far that’s not happening. Florisheim is alive with evil magic, and that magic is starting to affect the Saarlanders who are unused to it. They suffer apparitions of ghosts, people driven to injure themselves, or taken prisoner to work in a mysterious hole in the ground. Johanna knows that they have to get out of that evil place, but where can they go when the violence covers the entire known world? Dark epic fantasy. For readers who enjoy writers such as Robin Hobb, Karen Miller, Trudi Canavan, Morgan Rice, Lindsay Buroker and Glenda Larke.