Orris and the Shadow Maiden

Twelve-year-old Orris's father disappeared off the coast of Alaska, and his mother never stopped grieving. Feeling himself abandoned, Orris devotes his time to the wetlands surrounding his home - until he meets a girl with a shadow where her face should be, and he realizes that what he really needs is a friend.

However, the Shadow Maiden can never return his friendship, as those without faces are incapable of love. Orris swears to enter the world of Air-We-Breathe and hunt down the thief, the handsome and wicked Fisher Cat. But as he sails Air-We-Breathe - and learns, slowly, to deal with the terror and trauma of the adults around him - the Fisher Cat's secrets come to light, and Orris discovers the villain's trump card:

He can give him back his lost father.

ORRIS AND THE SHADOW MAIDEN won the Impress Prize for New Writers 2020.