A Creature of Moonlight is now available for purchase in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats
The girls who escape into the forbidden woods do it for one reason: freedom. But Marni has never heeded the voices that call to her from among the trees, the ones that lured her mother away so many years ago. Marni is the rightful heir to the throne, though she lives in exile, growing flowers for the court. While it isn’t the life of a princess, at least she’s been safe—until now.
Marni is not a little girl anymore. People are starting to notice her, and the voices in the woods have grown too loud to ignore. When the trees themselves begin to move in on the kingdom, Marni knows she must make a choice. She could claim her birthright as princess of a realm whose ruthless king wants her dead. Or she could make a life with the father she has never known: the wild dragon who is sending his magical woods to capture her.
Praise for A Creature of Moonlight
A Junior Library Guild Selection.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2014.
A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of 2014.
“Though Hahn’s story is new and wholly original, I immediately felt I had fallen into a dark and beautiful fairy tale, one that resonated like something important but long forgotten….This story engages every sense, and burrows into your imagination.”
—Jennifer A. Nielsen, The New York Times Book Review
“Hahn writes with such beauty and persuasion that she could make me believe in anything. She writes the sort of prose you give yourself to willingly. This is a rare and special book, a magical book; I’ve been searching for it and didn’t even know it.”
—Kristin Cashore, New York Times best-selling author of Graceling and Bitterblue
“Rebecca Hahn captures that elusive sense of an experience just out of reach—a memory, a dream, a voice in the woods, a road not taken. I love the book and hope she dreams up many more.”
—Franny Billingsley, National Book Award finalist for Chime
* “In Hahn’s polished, confident debut, the daughter of a runaway princess and a dragon comes of age. Neither a retelling nor a subversion of a familiar myth, this profound and original story feels like a long-lost classic fairy-tale.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
* “A dreamlike, poetic fantasy bildungsroman explores the power of choice and the meaning of home….Deliberate at first, Hahn’s debut is cumulatively stunning.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “This is fairy-tale fantasy at its best, with evocative prose and simple storytelling deftly conveying a powerful emotional core that will haunt readers long after the pages end.”
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review
“Marni, like Katsa in Graceling and the eponymous Seraphina, is a strong, plainspoken protagonist who learns to embrace her uniqueness and power with newfound confidence and fierce independence. Hahn’s poetic style gives the narrative depth and beauty with vividly rendered settings and sophisticatedly complex characters. It’s an eloquent story about free will, the meaning of home, and love’s varied forms.”
—The Horn Book Magazine
“This debut novel is abundant with both magical images and realistic family conflict, melding them into a traditional fairy tale with vivid elements of magical realism. Themes such as abandonment and loss blend into a compelling story.”
—VOYA
“Fascinating and challenging.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Hahn’s prose is slow and delicious, building to a denouement that is both thrilling and surprising.”
—BookPage
“Hahn’s fantasy world is richly detailed; her prose is lyrical and lovely. ‘A Creature of Moonlight’…seems destined to become a fantasy classic.”
—Christian Science Monitor, “25 of the best new middle grade novels”
