
Step into 1920s Mexico where Mayan mythology collides with Jazz Age glamour. This Nebula-nominated, multi-award-winning fantasy follows a young woman's dangerous alliance with the God of Death. NPR's "Best Book" brings underrepresented cultural magic to mainstream fantasy.
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In the sleepy town of Uukumil in 1927, eighteen-year-old Casiopea Tun lives as little more than a servant in her wealthy grandfather's home. Born to a disgraced mother who married beneath her station, she endures endless chores and humiliations, particularly from her cruel cousin Martin. Yet beneath her servitude burns dreams of escape-fantasies of driving automobiles, wearing fashionable dresses, and seeing the Pacific at night. When her grandfather travels and Martin cruelly reveals she'll remain under his control forever, Casiopea's simmering anger boils over. Left alone, she impulsively opens her grandfather's mysterious black chest decorated with Mayan imagery. Inside are not treasures but bones, and as she examines them, a bone shard embeds itself in her thumb. This single moment of rebellion transforms her life forever as the bones assemble themselves into Hun-Kame, the rightful Supreme Lord of Xibalba-the Mayan underworld-who has been imprisoned by his treacherous brother Vucub-Kame.
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