And thanks always to friends and family and the writers in my life who allow me to purge.
A note about the setting: Finnikin of the Rock, the first of the Lumatere Chronicles, was inspired by the landscape around the Dordogne area of France. It was during my visit to this region that the novel found the second half of its title. With Froi of the Exiles, I knew the physicality would have to have a different type of beauty. The town of Matera in Basilicata, Italy, with its amazing gravina (ravine) was the first place I researched when I knew that Froi would be set in a world of stone houses and cave frescoes. The rest of my research centered around the castle of Conwy in Wales and the truly sublime Cappadocia in Turkey, with its unique landscape and underground cities.
Melina Marchetta is the multi-award-winning author of Finnikin of the Rock, which won Australia’s Aurealis Award and was an American Library Association Top Ten Best Fiction Title for Young Adults; Jellicoe Road, a Michael L. Printz Award winner; Saving Francesca and its companion book, The Piper’s Son; and Looking for Alibrandi. About Froi of the Exiles, the second title in a projected trilogy, she says, “It explores nature versus nurture and blood bonds versus friendships, but ultimately it’s a love story between a whole lot of people who should have given up on each other long ago — yet still find it in themselves to hope again.” Melina Marchetta lives in Australia.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.
Previously published by the Penguin Group (Australia) 2011
This edition published by Walker Books 2013
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Copyright © 2011 by Melina Marchetta
Maps by Cathy Larsen, copyright © 2011 by the Penguin Group (Australia)
Cover photographs copyright © 2012 by Tyler Stalman/Vetta/Getty
Images (young man); copyright © 2012 by Stasyuk Stanislav/iStockphoto
(sword); copyright © 2012 by Caroline Lawrence (background)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-5614-4 (ePub)
www.walker.co.uk
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