Emmeline knows she’s not supposed to explore the woods outside her settlement. The enemy that wiped out half her people lurks there, attacking at night and keeping them isolated in an unfamiliar land with merciless winters. Living with the shame of her grandmother’s insubordination, Emmeline has learned to keep her head down and her quick tongue silent.When the settlement leader asks for her hand in marriage, it’s an opportunity for Emmeline to wash the family slate clean—even if she has eyes for another. But before she’s forced into an impossible decision, her dreams urge her into the woods, where she uncovers a path she can’t help but follow. The trail leads to a secret that someone in the village will kill to protect. Her grandmother followed the same path and paid the price. If Emmeline isn’t careful, she will be next.

Kate A. Boorman is an author from Edmonton, Alberta, with roots in the small town of Rimbey. Her books have been published in four world territories and have appeared on a variety of Best Of lists, from Seventeen to O! The Oprah Magazine. The first book in her acclaimed Winterkill trilogy won the Alberta Writers' Guild Award for Children's Fiction. Her latest YA, Into the Sublime, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. The Heathens and the Dragon is Kate's middle grade debut. When she is not writing, she is wrangling her family and dreaming up travel to faraway lands.

Kate A. Boorman's profile page