Imagine a world where women and girls can transform into dragons ... Alex Green is four years
old when she first sees a dragon. In her next-door neighbour's garden in the spot where the
old lady usually sits is a huge dragon an astonished expression on its face before it opens
its wings and soars away across the rooftops. And Alex doesn't see the little old lady after
that. No one mentions her. It's as if she's never existed. Then Alex's mother disappears and
reappears a week later one quiet Tuesday with no explanation whatsoever as to where she has
been. But she is a ghostly shadow of her former self and with scars across her body - wide
deep burns as though she had been attacked by a monster who breathed fire. Alex growing from
young girl to fiercely independent teenager is desperate for answers but doesn't get any.
Whether anyone likes it or not the Mass Dragoning is coming. And nothing will be the same
after that. Everything is about to change forever. And when it does this too will be
unmentionable ... With masterful and immersive prose and nuanced exploration of constructs of
gender oppression and power Kelly Barnhill exposes a world that wants to keep girls and women
small - and examines what happens when they rise up ...
