Fable

Gr 7 Up–After the tragic death of her mother four years ago, Fable was ruthlessly abandoned on a dangerous island by her own father and forced to dive off cliffs in search of valuable minerals to trade for food and money. Despite the many obstacles of this seafaring world, Fable manages to save enough copper to barter passage off the island. Her father Saint, a powerful trader, had promised that she would receive her inheritance if she lived to make it off the island. She finds passage on the Marigold, a trading ship with a secretive crew and a handsome helmsman, West, but they’re reluctant to have her on board. However, Fable’s skills with “dredging” and a magical ability to find precious gems soon win over the crew. The reunion with Saint doesn’t turn out the way Fable imagined, and she’s left with nothing but bitterness for him. Then a rival trading company threatens the lives of her fellow crewmen, and Fable finds herself forced to confront Saint to save them all. Compelling characters and taut emotion are the highlights of this engrossing novel. The combined adversities of the ocean’s power, social poverty, and the traders’ greed draw the reader into the book, and Young’s descriptions of tense underwater action will keep them turning pages. As the characters’ secrets unravel, readers will be spellbound by this enchanting tale.