Fly By Night

12-year-old orphan, Mosca Mye, and her loyal companion, a large and warlike goose, are about to inadvertantly become the unlikely heroes of events that overturn a nation divided by years of civil war and tyranny.

After her outcast father's death, Mosca leaves the miserable hamlet where she grew up, and goes on the run with a smooth-tongued swindler called Eponymous Clent. Living by her wits, Mosca finds herself avoiding trouble at every turn. But when she is recruited as a spy, Mosca uncovers a shocking plot to force a rule of terror on the people of the Realm, and all too soon merry mayhem leads to murder.

Hardinge's imagination is truly original; her landscapes are strange and captivating, her characters weird and wonderful. Smugglers, thieves, murder, floating coffeehouses, river battles, highwaymen, suspense, political intrigue and excitement - it has everything. And a great goose!