Sixteen-year-old Silver Blackthorn of the feudal English village, Martindale, takes the coming-of-age test that determines her place in society and learns that she is to become an Offering for King Victor, placing her in a warped world of suspicion from which she knows she must escape.

"First published in Great Britain by Pan Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd., a division of Macmillan"--Title page verso.