A prize-winning reinvention of the familiar Cinderella story set in a richly created Japanese setting, this is a powerful and haunting novel shot through with romance. Suzume is a shadow-weaver; she can become whoever she wants except her true self. Armed with her disguises, Suzume forges her way through life. But there is one man who can see through her. Will his love triumph? This richly invented Japanese world provides a fascinating backdrop for a powerful story.
A powerful tale of magic, love and revenge with a strong female lead set in fairy-tale Japan; this is Cinderella meets Memoirs of a Geisha. Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to recreate herself in any form - a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother's new husband, Lord Terayama, or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama's kitchens, or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to capture the heart of a prince - and determined to use his power to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even love. The author's debut novel, The Swan Kingdom, sold over 20,000 copies worldwide. It was chosen as a USBBY Outstanding International Book and was longlisted for the Branford Boase Award. Zoe also recently won a writing grant from the Royal Literary Fund. Shadows on the Moon has already won the prestigious Sasakawa prize, an award gifted by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for outstanding contributions to the promotion of understanding and cooperation between people of Japan and the UK.
Zoe Marriott lives in North East Lincolnshire with two cats, named Echo and Hero, and the Devil Hound, otherwise known as Finn. She says of Shadows on the Moon, "I never liked Cinderella as a little girl. She seemed like the worst kind of wimp to me, and I hated the fact that she needed someone else to come along and rescue her. Then one day I was thinking about a completely different idea for a book set in fairy-tale Japan - and suddenly the two story ideas collided in my head, and it occurred to me: what if Cinderella wasn't a wimp at all? What if she was strong and brave - and out for revenge all along? And so Shadows on the Moon was born."
