I am the girl with no name ... I have a secret I must never tell. If I do, they will come after me - the Protector and his men.
Only a number branded on her arm betrays the orphan girl's past. When she arrives at Murkmere Hall to be a kitchen maid, they call her Scuff, and little guess she has committed a terrible crime. Haunted by her dark secret, all Scuff can do is pray to the divine beings - the birds - for forgiveness.
Now, five years later, the past is catching up with Scuff. Hunted from all sides, she flees Murkmere, only to be forced back to the cruel confines of the Capital, and the Orphans' Home where it all began.
Set in the capital city, this has a very different feel from Murkmere, but is still grounded in the bird tradition, superstition and religion that haunts the first book.
- ISBN10 0340882468
- ISBN13 9780340882467
- Publish Date 17 March 2005
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 9 February 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Hachette Children's Group
- Imprint Hodder Children's Books
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 352
- Language English