Deerskin

"How like her mother she is!" "She is the perfect image of her mother!"

She found herself trembling, and her father's hand weighed on her more and more till she thought she would go mad, and there before all the people staring at her, try to gnaw her hand off at the wrist, like an animal in a trap....

A princess trapped in a terrifying nightmare. A king beloved by his people—and feared by his own daughter. This is the bold new territory that Robin McKinley explores in Deerskin.

With her earlier works, which include the acclaimed Newbery Award-winner The Hero and the Crown and her spirited revisiting of Robin Hood in The Outlaws of Sherwood, this gifted author attracted a major following of younger readers. But Deerskin speaks to a new audience, challenging everything we know and don't know about growing up, making choices, following one's own path, and finding light and magic in a world of evil and uncertainty.

As Princess Lissar reaches womanhood, it is clear to all the kingdom that in her breathtaking beauty she is the mirror image of her mother, the queen—but this seeming blessing forces her to flee for safety from her father's wrath. With her loyal dog Ash at her side, Lissar unlocks a door onto a world of magic, where she finds the key to her own survival—and an adventure beyond her wildest dreams.

Told with rare perception and emotional power, Deerskin is an unforgettable journey of discovery, where the secrets of a hidden world meet the dark forces of our own.... Deerskin is Robin McKinley at her finest.

—from the dust jacket