New Releases by Franny Billingsley

Robber Girl doesn''t have a name. Or a home. But she does have a dagger. And she has Gentleman Jack. Together, they are wild.Gentleman Jack has two tasks and he needs Robber Girl with him to complete them. But when a heist to steal back Gentleman Jack''s gold goes wrong, Robber Girl is trapped. Instead of sleeping out in the ravine with cliffs and caves and a river, she must stay in a cottage with keys and doorknobs and a dollhouse. A cottage that threatens to tame her.Robber Girl waits for the right moment to start her new task: she will break Gentleman Jack out of jail. But the longer Robber Girl waits, the more the cottage starts to feel like home. Torn between loyalty to Gentleman Jack and the family who have taken her in, between fighting and trusting, between being wild and being tame, Robber Girl must unravel who she was and who she is now. But when you''re a mystery even to yourself, discovering who you are might be the hardest task of them all.Part Western fantasy, part literary mystery and wholly unputdownable, A Murmuration of Starlings is loaded with magic, action, and intrigue, and features a character who will stay with you long after the final page.

"The Robber Girl has a good dagger. Its voice in her head is as sharp as its two edges that taper down to a point. Today, the Robber Girl and her dagger will ride with Gentleman Jack into the Indigo Heart to claim the gold that''s rightfully his. But instead of gold, the Robber Girl finds a dollhouse cottage with doorknobs the size of apple seeds. She finds two dolls who give her three tasks, even though she knows that three is too many tasks. The right number of tasks is two, like Grandmother gave to Gentleman Jack: Fetch unto me the mountain''s gold, to build our city fair. Fetch unto me the wingless bird, and I shall make you my heir" -- Jacket flap

Briony knows she is a witch. She knows that she is guilty of hurting her beloved stepmother. She also knows that, now her stepmother is dead, she must look after her beautiful but complicated twin sister, Rose. Then the energetic, electric, golden-haired Eldric arrives in her home town of Swampsea, and everything that Briony thinks she knows about herself and her life is turned magically, dizzyingly, upside down.

Corinna Stonewall is fifteen years old and an orphan. She is also Rhysbridge Foundling Home''s Folk Keeper - a difficult and dangerous job which consists of looking after and controlling ''the Folk'' - spiteful, maverick, savage creatures who live in the cellar and will only be prevented from spoiling the milk, terrifying the livestock and other disruptions by gifts of cream, salt pork and similar luxuries. But there are many questions about Corinna. Who are her parents? Why does her hair grow two inches a night? Why is she always drawn to the sea and long for the sweet taste of fish?

At home, in the Mouse House, Baby Boo-Boo gets no respect. Just look at her name: Baby Boo-Boo. She''s no baby! The word drives her wild in a big, bad way. And here''s Mama Mouse calling, always calling after her, "Baby! Where are you, Baby?" It''s humiliating. Mice (and other small persons) will understand what Big Bad Boo-Boo does. It''s quite naughty.

"A coin for passage to your heart''s desire," says Agnes, Guardian of the Wishing Well in the village of Bishop Mayne. "That is the first rule." But Nuria doesn''t think she needs a wish. Wishing on the Well is dangerous. Wishes often go wrong. That''s why there are no other children around. A wish-gone-wrong took them all away. But now, because her grandfather, the Avy, has wished for them to come back, Nuria is sure that the one thing she wants -- a friend her own age -- will soon be there. "One wish each lifetime," says Agnes. "One cycle of the moon to repent and call it back. That is the second rule." Only a fool would make a wish that needs to be called back, Nuria thinks. But that''s before she meets Catty Winter, who cannot walk, whose legs are mysteriously crippled. "Make a wish for me," Catty pleads. And Nuria is tempted. But what if the wish goes wrong? "And for that cycle of the moon your lips are locked in this: To no one may you speak of your wish. To no one but to me, for your wish is my wish too. That is the third rule." Nuria has given little thought to the third rule. But there come moments when she wishes it did not exist. The Wishing Well, she is trickier than anyone has known. The Wishing Well in Bishop Mayne has a mind of its own and creates problems for all who try to use its power. Few have gotten anything but misery from it. Knowing this, however, does not keep Nuria, in a time of dire need, from trying to accomplish what few others have managed. Beauty and greed, warmth and cold, walk hand in hand in this unusual fantasy to create an adventure filled with friendship, challenge, and the magic of love.