Young adult
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Everyone dreams. Bird dreams she’s a musician. She plays to the trees in her dreamworld, Fae. At 15, she’s become a brilliant violinist with a promising career ahead. When she practises in front of the mirror in her bedroom, the trees appear, dancing behind her. It seems unnervingly real. One night she dreams of a red-headed boy with golden eyes, waiting in the forest, drawn by her music.
Next day, exploring a quarry in the remote Lake District valley where she lives, the skin of Bird’s world peels open when the red-headed boy walks into the quarry. As she stares, his golden eyes turn hazel, he seems unable to recognise her, and she loses sight of him until he arrives at the cottage next door, with his mother. They’ve just moved in. He’s Tom, he’s 17, and for Bird it’s love at first sight. Although he won’t hold her hand, Tom plainly feels the same. He’s as human as she is. Then his mother deliberately touches Bird’s hand, leaving an agonising, invisible burn.
Bird’s adversary is the Queen of Fae. She claims Tom is her son, she will defeat Bird and take him back. Bird’s musical powers will not save him, unless she finds another human child to take his place. There’s always the new baby in Bird’s family. He’s just been adopted by Bird’s aunt – another dream come true …
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
This is a masterful and fascinating tale, crossing the boundaries of this world and the world of Fae with consummate ease. I was completely enthralled by the growing sense of threat as Bird, a young musician of remarkable talent, takes on the Queen of Fae. Using her music to protect herself and save Tom, a changeling boy raised in Fae, Bird holds out against the Queen's vicious and increasingly powerful attacks. There are so many characters I love here Tom, with his close affinity with animals and nature - Patrick, Bird's mischievous brother, bringing laughter and light when Bird feels at her most confused and threatened - the mysterious Hilda, Bird's music teacher, who seems to have powers of her own This is storytelling at its best, themes of first love, adoption, the finding of self, seamlessly woven in to give Bird's story depth and character. The final compromise reached after such bitter and heartfelt conflict is perhaps a lesson to us all.
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