Book description
I am the girl with no name ... I have a secret I must never tell. If I
do, they will come after me - the Protector and his men. Only a number
branded on her arm betrays the orphan girl's past. When she arrives at
Murkmere Hall to be a kitchen maid, they call her Scuff, and little
guess she has committed a terrible crime. Haunted by her dark secret,
all Scuff can do is pray to the divine beings - the birds - for
forgiveness. Now, five years later, the past is catching up with Scuff.
Hunted from all sides, she flees Murkmere, only to be forced back to the
cruel confines of the Capital, and the Orphans' Home where it all began.
Set in the capital city, this has a very different feel from Murkmere,
but is still grounded in the bird tradition, superstition and religion
that haunts the first book. Patricia Elliott was born in London, but
grew up in Europe and the Far East. A voracious reader since childhood
(where she had the resources of ten different school libraries), she
also made up ghost stories to scare her friends! As an adult, she worked
in publishing in London and in a children's bookshop in New York. She
now teaches a course in children's literature at an adult education
college, and is writing further novels. She lives in Barnes with her
husband and two sons. Her first book, The Ice Boy, won the Fidler Award
for a first novel, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and the
West Sussex award. Her second novel, Murkmere, was longlisted for the
Guardian Children's Fiction Award.
