1920s Oxford: home to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien... and Anna
Francis, a young Greek refugee looking to escape the grim reality of her
new life. The night they cross paths, none suspect the fantastic world
at work around them. Anna Francis lives in a tall old house with her
father and her doll Penelope. She is a refugee, a piece of flotsam
washed up in England by the tides of the Great War and the chaos that
trailed in its wake.
Once upon a time, she had a mother and a brother, and they all lived
together in the most beautiful city in the world, by the shores of
Homer's wine-dark sea. But that is all gone now, and only to her doll
does she ever speak of it, because her father cannot bear to hear. She
sits in the shadows of the tall house and watches the rain on the
windows, creating worlds for herself to fill out the loneliness. The
house becomes her own little kingdom, an island full of dreams and
half-forgotten memories. And then one winter day, she finds an
interloper in the topmost, dustiest attic of the house. A boy named Luca
with yellow eyes, who is as alone in the world as she is. That day,
she'll lose everything in her life, and find the only real friend she
may ever know.
