Suffolk, 1557 O Domine! Such was the cry in Abacuck’s heart up on the roof of St Mary’s. Save us. The steeple above was all the answer he needed, a dark, judgemental finger. Treacherous his path was, slippery as the tiles under his boots, the removal of which the rector had charged him with that […]

My father told me that there must not be fear in our village. Whether we are born as girls or boys or whomever we may choose to be and become, we must overcome our fears. I had yet to turn fifteen, but it matters not to my father, nothing ever did except for his face, […]

When Yipp came to the village and took the five girls set to turn seventeen during that year’s River Harvest Ihmani found herself awoken by a sea of wails. Tumbling from her covers she hurried to the front door where she found her parents already outside amongst the gathering group of mothers and fathers. A […]

I know what you will say. You will say to me, Arseny, there are enough real monsters in this world—why do you make your own? But before I begin, before you make your judgments, like the others, before you tsk-tsk-tsk our failures and tell me what you would have done, there are some things that […]