AN IRISH PRINCESS’ TALE
ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY
ALSO BY DONNA JO NAPOLI: Beast Breath Bound
for Patrick Hill
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2007 by Donna Jo Napoli
Map of Europe by Elena Furrow
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Book design by Michael McCartney
The text for this book is set in Adobe Jenson.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Edition
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Napoli, Donna Jo, 1948—
Hush : an Irish princess’ tale / Donna Jo Napoli.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.
ISBN: 9780689861765
eISBN-13: 978-1-439-10761-4
eSBN: 9781439107614
[1. Slavery—Fiction. 2. Mutism, elective—Fiction. 3. Seafaring life—Fiction. 4. Princesses—Fiction. 5. Conduct of life—Fiction. 6. Middle Ages—Fiction. 7. Ireland—History—To 1172—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.N15Hus 2007 ♦ [Fic]-dc22 ♦ 2007002676