A killer loose on the streets of Venice. A girl with strange visions of murder. On the brink of WWI, their paths cross in this thrilling historical mystery from an award-winning Spanish author.

In 1914 Venice, Carla Herzog, a nobleman’s thirteen-year-old daughter, has a chilling premonition of murder. When it comes true, her zealous father believes Carla to be a witch. How better to expel his possessed child’s wickedness than to remand her to the headmistress of a brutal children’s reformatory?

Condemned to a fanatical institution in San Teodoro, Carla’s only hope is escape. After she befriends an orphaned girl and a rebellious teen boy, they dare to break free and stow away on a transatlantic steamer. But even greater threats loom on the horizon. A serial killer is targeting Italy’s most powerful men, and Carla has become a suspect. Carla’s premonitions foretell of horrific world catastrophes. And a betrayal not even Carla saw coming could destroy her life.

With Venetian authorities on her tail, Carla races to clear her name and unmask the real killer before they can kill again. But first she must discover the truth behind her mysterious powers and survive her own family’s deadly secrets.

Pol Castellanos is an author from Barcelona, Spain, who also works as a high school language and literature teacher. His novels include L’impostor de Viena (The Impostor of Vienna), which received the Alba Award for Best Young Adult novel in Catalan; and L’assassina de Venècia (The Murderess of Venice), which received the Ramon Muntaner Award for YA Literature, the Protagonista Jove Award, and the Alba 42 Award for Best Young Adult Novel in Catalan, among other accolades. He is also the author of La cara fosca de les llegendes (The Dark Side of Legends), which explores hidden truths and mysteries behind well-known stories. For more information, visit www.polcastellanos.com.

Claire Storey translates from German, Spanish, and Catalan into English. Her work includes Never Tell Anyone Your Name by Federico Ivanier (Uruguay); The Darkness of Colours by Martín Blasco (Argentina), winner of the Translated YA Book Prize from the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative; and The Wild Ones by Antonio Ramos Revillas (Mexico), which received a 2024 PEN Translates Award. For more information, visit www.clairestoreylanguages.co.uk.