Never before published in the US, this novel from Costa Book of the Year award winner Frances Hardinge offers an underground city with a sinister past, a collection of wealthy families vying for power, and an out-of-place girl yearning to escape into the sunlight

An enchanting underground world hides sinister secrets in this YA fantasy from award-winning author Frances Hardinge

An ALA/ALSC Notable Children’s Book

In the underground city of Caverna, the world’s most skilled craftspeople toil in the darkness to create delicacies beyond compare—wines that remove memories, cheeses that make you hallucinate, and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even as he slits your throat. On the surface, the people of Caverna seem ordinary, except for one thing: their faces are as blank as untouched snow. Expressions must be learned, and only the famous Facesmiths can teach a person to express (or fake) joy, despair, or fear—at a steep price.

Into this dark and distrustful world comes Neverfell, a girl with no memory of her past and a face so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. Neverfell’s expressions are as varied and dynamic as those of the most skilled Facesmiths, except hers
are entirely genuine. And that makes her very dangerous indeed . . .