Part Benjamin Button, part Harold and Maud, part Brian Selznick and part Neil Gaiman, this is a unique, magical story that will draw readers in and make them fall in love with both characters.

Davy David is a thirteen-year-old orphan, who lives in the bushes in a town ruled by a strict minister, Reverend Fall. A talented artist, Davy loves to draw pictures of angels in the dirt, in the early hours of the morning before the townspeople are awake. He spends his days on his own, except for a small dog, who has attached himself to Davy, often going to the library to find inspiration for his pictures of angels. One day, after chasing after a ball for some of the town's boys, he finds himself in the yard of the old boarded-up museum, now rumoured to be the home of a witch. The witch is Miss Elizabeth Flint, an elderly woman who has a proposition for Davy: drive her to her childhood home, where, it turns out, she has made the decision to die.

Moira Young is the author of the Dust Lands series. The first book, Blood Red Road, won the Costa Children’s Book Award, was a Cybils Award Winner for fantasy and science fiction, and was a Best Fiction for Young Adults selection. The Dust Lands continues with Rebel Heart, which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and Raging Star. A native Canadian, Moira lives with her husband in the UK. Learn more at MoiraYoung.com.

Moira Young's profile page

• Nominated, Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award
• Nominated, Carnegie Medal
• Short-listed, John Spray Mystery Award

A Publisher's Weekly Best Book of 2017

". . . a touching, slightly nostalgic story that avoids sentimentality and provides readers with a sense of having travelled a worthy path with characters they will be sad to leave behind." --Starred Review, Quill & Quire
"Gorgeous writing combines with a hauntingly bleak near-future setting, a whiff of holiday magic, and a transcendent story arc to make this novel feel like the classic it deserves to become." --Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly

". . . an enchanting and uplifting story." --Canadian Children's Book News