Book description
Princess Elisa is a disappointment to her people. Although she bears
the Godstone in her navel, a sign that she has been chosen for an act of
heroism, they see her as lazy and useless and fat. On her sixteenth
birthday, she is bartered off in royal marriage and shipped away to a
kingdom in turmoil, where her much-older-and extremely beautiful-husband
refuses to acknowledge her as his wife. Devastated, Elisa decides to
take charge of her fate and learn what it means to bear the Godstone. As
an invading army threatens to destroy her new home, and everyone at
court maneuvers to take advantage of the young princess, Elisa becomes
convinced that, not only is her own life in danger, the whole world
needs saving. But how can a young girl who has never ridden horseback,
never played the game of politics, and never attained the love of a man
save the world? Elisa can't be sure, but she must try to uncover the
Godstone's secret history before the enemy steals the destiny nestled in
her core. Rae Carson has published short stories in venues such as
Weird Tales Magazine and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and is a graduate of
the Blue Heaven Novel Writing Workshop. She lives in Columbus, Ohio,
with her husband, novelist C. C. Finlay, two (reasonably) well-behaved
teenaged stepsons and a pair of naughty cats.
