LITTLE THIEVES

Part heist, part heart-wrenching coming-of-age novel, this is a new take on “The Goose Girl.”

An incorrigible thief, 17-year-old Vanja Schmidt’s biggest theft was her mistress’s life. Displacing Kör-prinzessin Gisele, soon-to-be Markgräfinvon Reigenbach, after arriving in Bóern, Vanja has been masquerading as both Gisele and Greta, the maid, using her newfound access to steal from the elite as the Pfennigeist (Penny Phantom). Sick of being a servant and repeatedly abandoned—first by her mother, then by her adoptive goddess godmothers, Death and Fortune—Vanja’s saving up for her escape from the Blessed Empire of Almandy, hoping to outrun Gisele, her thefts, the law, and the gods. Revenge against abusive aristocrats is a bonus. But the stakes rise, the countdown starts, and tension builds as a goddess curses Vanja, the zealous young investigator Junior Prefect Emeric Conrad arrives, and the predatory margrave Adalbrecht returns from battle to rush Gisele into marriage. Irreverent toward immortals and fiercely independent, Vanja must make alliances, apologies, and amends if she wants to survive. Romantic entanglements and malevolent magic complicate matters further. In this vaguely early modern Germanic setting, Vanja and many characters read as White. Pivoting from her innovative Merciful Crow series to retell an often revisited fairy tale, Owen delivers a cynical, sarcastic, devious, damaged, and self-aware antihero, a climactic crime caper, and a twisty legal-political thriller.

A lush and lively adventure replete with romance, revenge, and robbery.