Maresi
Translator: Annie Prime
Author: Maria Turtschaninoff
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Year of Publication: 2016
Nominated for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal, and long-listed for the Marsh Award for translation.
Maresi is a novice at the Red Abbey on the island of Menos where men are forbidden and the sisterhood reveres the triple-aspect Goddess: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. Their self-sufficient spiritual community is ideal, until danger threatens their peaceful lifestyle, and they must harness the mystical powers of feminine magic to save themselves and their home.
The thrilling adventure is beautifully narrated by Maresi herself, an unusual but endearing bookworm heroine.
This first novel in The Red Abbey Chronicles is a magical, inspiring, feminist fantasy thriller, and is perfect reading for ages 12 and up.