The major fantasy debut from bestselling author Joanne Harris, now in paperback.Seven o'clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins have been at the cellar again. Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith¡¯s world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, faeries, magic—all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago.

But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The ¡°ruinmark¡± she was born with on her palm proves it—and makes the other villagers fearful and suspicious that she is a witch.But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy¡¯s mark not as a defect, but a destiny.

And Maddy will need every scrap that One-Eye can teach her about runes, cantrips, and glamours—every ounce of magic she can command—if she is to survive that destiny. * ¡°Harris creates a glorious and complex world replete with rune-based magical spells, bickering gods, exciting adventures and difficult moral issues.¡±—Publishers Weekly, Starred