THE CERULEAN

From the internationally bestselling author of The Jewel comes a new series about magical women living in a Sapphic utopia.

Sera is Cerulean. Her blood is magic. She lives in the sky, in a beautiful floating paradise populated only by women. Every five hundred years, the High Priestess chooses a young girl to be sacrificed - flung over the edge, bleeding - for the protection of the City. And today, the High Priestess chose Sera. It is an honor, Sera's orange mother told her after the ceremony. It is a necessity, her green mother said as they left the High Priestess's temple. Her purple mother - who gave birth to her - said nothing. On the day of the ceremony, Sera says goodbye to her mothers and her best friend. With blood pouring from her wrists, she plummets toward the surface, blazing like a falling star - yet she's surprised to find that the fall doesn't kill her. Instead, she's found by Leo and Agnes, children from the surface city of Kaolin who are on safari to find new creatures for their father's freak show. Arrogant Leo only wants to win his father's respect, but Agnes is driven by scientific curiosity. Sera tries to communicate with them - and is shocked to see a male for the first time! - but her voice only comes out a whisper in the dense atmosphere of the surface. Leo roughly ties her up and they make their way back toward the city. When they return with their prize, their father is delighted, and Sera is horrified to see the way they treat the other magical beings they've captured. As the cruel training for the show begins, Agnes finds a way to communicate with Sera and realizes that she is sentient after all - and that she must help Sera escape her cruel fate... Amy Ewing is the author of the New York Times bestselling Lone City trilogy (The Jewel, The White Rose, and The Black Key), which sold abroad in fifteen countries. She is a graduate of the MFA Children's Writing program at the New School. She lives in Harlem.