The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy

From the acclaimed author of The Real Boy and The Lost Girl comes a wondrous and provocative fantasy about a kingdom beset by monsters, a mysterious school, and a girl caught in between them.

If no one notices Marya Lupu, is likely because of her brother, Luka. And that’s because of what everyone knows: that Luka is destined to become a sorcerer.

The Lupus might be from a small village far from the capital city of Illyria, but that doesn’t matter. Every young boy born in in the kingdom holds the potential for the rare ability to wield magic, to protect the country from the terrifying force known only as the Dread.

For all the hopes the family has for Luka, no one has any for Marya, who can never seem to do anything right. But even so, no one is prepared for the day that the sorcerers finally arrive to test Luka for magical ability, and Marya makes a terrible mistake. Nor the day after, when the Lupus receive a letter from a place called Dragomir Academy—a mysterious school for wayward young girls. Girls like Marya.

Soon she is a hundred miles from home, in a strange and unfamiliar place, surrounded by girls she’s never met. Dragomir Academy promises Marya and her classmates a chance to make something of themselves in service to one of the country’s powerful sorcerers. But as they learn how to fit into a world with no place for them, they begin to discover things about the magic the men of their country wield, as well as the Dread itself—things that threaten the precarious balance upon which Illyria is built.

A Strong Girl Protagonist: Marya has always been told she’s a troublemaker. But at a school designed to make her obedient, her stubborn curiosity might be the only thing that can save the kingdom. Feminist Fantasy: In a world where only men are allowed to wield power, Marya and her new friends discover that the most dangerous secrets are the ones meant to keep girls powerless. Unlikely Friendships: Sent to a school for ‘wayward’ girls, Marya finds herself surrounded by classmates who are just as defiant as she is. Together, they form bonds of trust that the system is designed to break. An Epic Quest for Truth: What is the true nature of the Dread? And why is Dragomir Academy so determined to hide the truth? The answers will change everything Marya thought she knew about magic and her place in the world.