The Girl Who Dreamed in Magic

Maria Kuzniar

February 2024 Edited Manuscript Middle-Grade

From the winner of the Ulmer Ulk Award 2021

In a land of ice and stars, where the battles between warring clans threaten to shake the moon from the sky, lives a girl with a magical destiny. The seers speak of a girl braver than a raider, fiercer than an eagle, who rides a bear over the tundra and wields magic at her fingertips, that will one day rule the clans.

Though Saga Thorolfdottir is brave and fierce, and her bear, Björn, loves to run with her over the mountains, beneath the Northern Lights, she has a secret: ever since her parents died from carving the wrong incantation runes, she’s been deathly afraid of using magic.

And she is not interested in pursuing any kind of magical destiny. She’d much rather learn to sail through the fjords on her little Viking boat, skate on frozen lakes, or listen to her beloved grandfather’s stories.

But when Saga accidentally disturbs a clan of trolls slumbering in the mountains, to her horror they attack her village and capture her grandfather. Now only magic can save them.