After her father is killed and her family torn apart, Leah wakes hooded and bound on a ship. Her little sister is beside her, and they're both about to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
When the sisters are sold to different men, Leah has one objective: to get Maria back. But the Valley, a lawless continent of feuding city-states with no central authority, doesn't make it so simple. No one here helps without expecting something in return, and it's rarely silver coins.
Leah's journey takes her from the palace of a queen who drowns the women she doesn't like to the frozen wilderness of the far north, from the belly of a fishing boat crewed by men she can barely understand to a metropolis that rivals Manhattan in scale but not in safety. Together with the characters she encounters on the way, she faces off against dangers at every turn, barely making it out alive time and time again.
Author Benjamin Grimm weaves a tale as rich in imagery as it is in emotion. Fraught with complexities of motives and morality, the narrative delves deep into Leah's psyche, capturing her transformation from an innocent girl to a certified badass.
This is Volume I of the Tales of the Valley trilogy, a dark frontier saga where the real monsters wear top hats and the line between rescue and revenge disappears long before the final page.