A Murmuration of Starlings

Robber Girl doesn't have a name. Or a home. But she does have a dagger. And she has Gentleman Jack. Together, they are wild.

Gentleman Jack has two tasks and he needs Robber Girl with him to complete them. But when a heist to steal back Gentleman Jack's gold goes wrong, Robber Girl is trapped. Instead of sleeping out in the ravine with cliffs and caves and a river, she must stay in a cottage with keys and doorknobs and a dollhouse. A cottage that threatens to tame her.

Robber Girl waits for the right moment to start her new task: she will break Gentleman Jack out of jail. But the longer Robber Girl waits, the more the cottage starts to feel like home. Torn between loyalty to Gentleman Jack and the family who have taken her in, between fighting and trusting, between being wild and being tame, Robber Girl must unravel who she was and who she is now. But when you re a mystery even to yourself, discovering who you are might be the hardest task of them all.

Part Western fantasy, part literary mystery and wholly unputdownable, A Murmuration of Starlings is loaded with magic, action, and intrigue, and features a character who will stay with you long after the final page.

About the Author

Franny Billingsley s books owe their images and rhythms to the songs her father sang two songs every night, unless she chose a Scottish ballad with more than thirty verses. Then he d sing only one song because he was faithful to every word and had four other kids waiting. Now Franny sings to her own two kids, and she reminds herself of the great gift her father gave her whenever she s tempted to skip a verse. She lives in Chicago with her four dogs and works as a children s bookseller.