The Executioner's Daughter
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
All her life, Moss has lived in the Tower of London with her father, who serves as the executioner for King Henry VIII. Prisoners condemned to death must face Pa and his axe—and Moss catches their severed heads. Her father insists he has no choice: if he leaves the Tower, he will be killed. But Moss can't bear to be the executioner's daughter any longer. When she finally finds a way out of the Tower, she discovers the river holds more dangers than she imagined—including the Riverwitch's curse. The Riverwitch once helped Moss's family in exchange for a terrible bargain; now she expects Moss to pay the debt.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in England during the reign of Henry VIII, Hardstaff's debut is a fast-moving and suspenseful adventure starring motherless 11-year-old Moss, who has lived all her life on London's Tower Hill. Moss's father's job is to behead the Tower prisoners; hers is to carry away the severed heads in a basket. Jeered at as "basket girl," Moss despises beheadings, but her father has always told her they themselves are prisoners whose lives are spared only because he serves as the king's executioner. When Moss discovers that this is a lie and that she is living under a curse from the Riverwitch who saved her as a newborn she runs away, embarking on a hand-to-mouth existence filled with indignities and dangers, often accompanied by a generous young thief, who shares what little he has with Moss. Searching for the place she was conceived and aware that she is living on borrowed time, Moss is a headstrong, emotional, and determined heroine. Hardstaff believably conveys the gritty details of life on the edge in the context of historical events of the era. Ages 9 13.
