Winter into Spring — David Kudler

Can One Girl Save A School—and Herself?Contains Risuko and Bright Eyes, as well as six prequel stories!Kano Murasaki, called Risuko (Squirrel) is a young, fatherless girl, more comfortable climbing trees than down on the ground. Yet she finds herself enmeshed in a game where the board is the whole nation of Japan, where the pieces are armies moved by scheming lords, and a single girl couldn't possibly have the power to change the outcome.Or could she?Kano Murasaki, you may not realize it, but I have done you a great favor. I have it in my power to give you a gift that you don't even realize you desire. Make yourself worth my trouble, and you will be glad of it. Disappoint me, and you will be very, very sorry.At the Full Moon, an isolated mountain school for training young women to become shrine maidens (and much more), Risuko finds friends, challenges, and danger. Intrigue, poison, invasion, murder — she must survive from winter into spring if she is going to figure out who she is truly going to be.This thrilling collection contains the first two novels in the award-winning teen historical fiction series Seasons of the Sword. In addition, Winter into Spring includes a half-dozen short stories set before the novels, exploring the characters and world: a sixteenth-century Japan torn by over a century of civil war.PRAISE FOR RISUKO:Tight, exciting, and thoughtful! — KirkusRisuko is an artfully crafted novel that evokes a heavy sense of place and enchantment.... Risuko's development and evolution are fascinating to watch in this powerful and relentless coming-of-age adventure. — Foreword Reviews (spotlight review)Vividly portrayed, flush with cultural detail, and smoothly written. — BookLifePRAISE FOR BRIGHT EYES:Bright Eyes is imaginative, original, exceptionally well written, and highly recommended — Midwest Book ReviewAn enthralling. unputdownable tale! [...] The well-crafted mystery, well-honed history and world-building, and Risuko's adventurousness leave the reader wanting more. — Shailyn Rogers, Ind'Tale MagazineThe author crafts a highly unique and captivating world in the pages of Bright Eyes. — BookLife