Little Thieves

"Gorgeous prose; delicious magic." - V.E. Schwab YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection Kids' Indie Next Pick Amazon Best Book A scrappy maid must outsmart both palace nobles and Low Gods in a new YA fantasy by Margaret Owen; author of the Merciful Crow series. Once upon a time; there was a horrible girl... Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given; not even a mother’s love—and she’s on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja; the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune; was Princess Gisele's dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja’s otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care; and Vanja decided to steal her future back… by stealing Gisele’s life for herself. The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now; Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief; charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then; one heist away from freedom; Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels; stone by stone; for her greed. Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god; Gisele’s sinister fiancé; and an overeager junior detective on Vanja’s tail; she’ll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life. Margaret Owen; author of The Merciful Crow series; crafts a delightfully irreverent retelling of “The Goose Girl” about stolen lives; thorny truths; and the wicked girls at the heart of both.