“We broke the curse, Mina,” Lynet said softly.
“You broke the curse,” Mina said, tearing her gaze away from the trees.
Lynet shook her head. “You’re the one who tore down the statue. It took both of us to break the curse.”
Even as she said the words, she was sure they were true. Sybil’s garden. Sybil’s statue. Perhaps the dead queen had only been waiting for someone to put an end to her grief at last, to offer her some kind of hope that life would return to the North.
A small smile crept over Mina’s face. “Maybe you’re right,” she said, her hand slipping into Lynet’s.
And as they walked back from the garden together hand in hand, Lynet knew that this would be their legacy, the story they had chosen—two girls made of snow and glass who were more than their origins, two queens who had come together to reshape their world.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, thanks to my family. This book wouldn’t exist without you.
To my mom, Gilda: Thank you for listening to my late-night panic sessions when I was convinced I was doing everything wrong, for believing in me more than I believed in myself, and for your wisdom, advice, and unwavering support. To my dad, Barry: Thank you for suggesting that I take a book with me out to recess in second grade when I complained about being bored, for encouraging me to be the best I can be, and for always being there for me. And to my sister, Roxanne: Thank you for being proud of me, for your irrepressible enthusiasm and encouragement, and for always looking out for me like a true big sister.
To friends both online and offline who have generously given me their time, their support, and their encouragement as I decided to follow this dream. To name just a few, thanks to Meaghan Hardy, Emily Drash, Laura Rutkowski, Elizabeth Ayral, Chelsea Gillenwater, Emily A. Duncan, Jamie Taker-Walsh, and Jessica Lynn Jacobs. Thank you for reading, for listening to me fret and worry, for believing in me, and for inspiring me with your passion and your immense and varied talents. And thank you to Rhiannon Thomas for taking me under her wing and making this whole debut experience feel a little less intimidating.
A huge thanks goes to my agent, Meredith Kaffel Simonoff. You get me. From the very beginning, you understood the heart of this book, and I owe so much to your insight and your advocacy. You’ve been my compass during this journey—whenever I was unsure of the direction I was going, I only had to check with you and know which way was true north. Special thanks, too, to Ashley Collom for her valuable early feedback.
To my incredible editor, Sarah Dotts Barley, thank you for taking a chance on me and helping me turn this book into something so much more than what it once was. It’s magic, what you do. Thanks as well to Caroline Bleeke, who stepped in with her sharp eye and keen insight while Sarah was on maternity leave.
Thank you so much to Amy Einhorn and everyone at Flatiron and Macmillan—to Patricia Cave, Molly Fonseca, Nancy Trypuc, Jenn Gonzalez, Lena Shekhter, and Liz Catalano. Thank you to Anna Gorovoy, Keith Hayes, Erin Fitzsimmons, and Kelly Gatesman for making this book look so beautiful and elegant inside and out. I’m so proud to be part of Flatiron’s list. Thank you all for turning my pages and pages of a Word document into a real live book.
And lastly, to the women who taught me the power of fairy tales: Shelley Duvall taught me as a child the value in different versions of the same story. Donna Jo Napoli taught me as a teen to look at those stories from all angles. And Angela Carter taught me as an adult how to dig beneath the surface of fairy tales and find the vulnerable, beating heart underneath. I can trace my path to this book through the three of them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa Bashardoust received her degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, where she rediscovered her love for creative writing, children’s literature, and fairy tales and their retellings. She currently lives in Southern California with a cat named Alice and more copies of Jane Eyre than she probably needs. Girls Made of Snow and Glass is Melissa’s first novel.
Learn more about Melissa at www.melissabash.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Map
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
GIRLS MADE OF SNOW AND GLASS. Copyright © 2017 by Melissa Bashardoust. All rights reserved. For information, address Flatiron Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.flatironbooks.com
Cover design by Keith Hayes
Cover photography © Furtseff/Shutterstock.com
Map by Rhys Davies
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-07773-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-17126-9
(international, sold outside the U.S., subject to rights availability)
ISBN 978-1-250-07774-5 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250077745
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].
First Edition: September 2017
Girls Made of Snow and Glass Page 34