The Lucky Diamond : Yvonne

Meet Yvonne – a heroine, according to her sister Susan; bossy, unreasonable, annoying, if you ask Vicky, her younger sister; and as for the twins, they’d probably say Yvonne was all right… most of the time.

Yvonne lives in Lowdar, the most easterly town in Nivram. The town is overshadowed by the Blackhand Mountains, the Great Forest presses against its wall, the Living Rocks at sea terrify the citizens – if you want to read more about the place, check out my post from last week. Lowdar is a horrible place, where a small number of wealthy people live comfortable lives and everyone else ekes out a miserable existence.

When Yvonne was ten, her father died, then her mother, and the family home burned to the ground. Fortunately her uncle was there to take care of the orphaned children – until he was sent to meet his death in the Great Forest, leaving Yvonne to look after her four younger siblings.

To make things worse, the judge ordered the five orphans to be thrown to the monsters of the forest as well as their uncle.

So for five years Yvonne has scavenged, begged, darned, scrubbed and cleaned to feed her family, while telling Susan what to do, arguing with Vicky, worrying about the twins, and somehow managing to keep them all safe from the town guard.

Everything is about to change for Yvonne – her problems are about to get a whole lot worse!

Find out more in my middle grade fantasy, The Lucky Diamond, out 3rd November.