M.T. Anderson is the author of Feed, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, as well as The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume I: The Pox Party, winner of the National Book Award and a New York Times bestseller, and its sequel, The Kingdom on the Waves, which was also a New York Times bestseller and Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. He is also the author of the graphic novels: Yvain: The Knight of the Lion, with Andrea Offermann, and The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, with Eugene Yelchin. Jo Rioux is an author and illustrator of children’s books. Her debut graphic novel Cat’s Cradle won the 2012 Joe Shuster award for best comic for kids. She has illustrated young adult books, chapter books and picture books.
Ys, city of wealth and wonder, has a history of dark secrets. Queen Malgven used magic to raise the great walls that the city from the sea. But after the queen’s inexplicable death, her daughters drift apart. The Daughters of Ys (First Second) follows them. Rozenn, the heir to the throne, spends her time on the moors communing with wild animals. Dahut, the youngest, enjoys the royal life and is eager to take part in palace intrigue. When their bond is irrevocably changed, the fate of Ys is sealed, exposing the monsters that lurk in plain view. M. T. Anderson and Jo Rioux reimagine this classic Breton folktale of love, loss, and rebirth, revealing the secrets that lie beneath the surface. NPR said that Anderson’s story, “a reinterpretation of a Breton folktale, is effortlessly page-turning…[the] drawings here aren’t just beautiful, with their deep, layered colors and elegant compositions; they’re also smart.”