A Hunger of Thorns by Lili Wilkinson

WINNER: 2024 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Writing for Young Adults

SHORTLISTED: 2024 CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers

Selected as one of the Best Young Adult Books for 2023 ¿ Readings Books 

'Completely entrancing. I have never read anything like this book. It's full of magic - the real thing. And it's full of feminine power, dark mysteries and unforgettable characters. The luscious depth of the world-building and the effortless skill with which it is conveyed make me utterly jealous.' - Amie Kaufman

Maude is the daughter of witches. She spent her childhood running wild with her best friend, Odette, weaving stories of girls who slayed dragons and saved princes. Then Maude grew up and lost her magic ¿ and her best friend. Storytelling is her only gift that remains.

Odette always hungered for forbidden, dangerous magic, and two weeks ago she went searching for it. Now she's missing, and everyone believes she's dead. Everyone except Maude.

Maude is sure she can find Odette inside the ruins of Sicklehurst, an abandoned power plant built over an ancient magical forest ¿a place nobody else seems to remember is there. The danger is, nobody knows what remains inside Sicklehurst, either. And every good story is sure to have a monster ¿