The Tower of Steel and Bones

Kazimira is no stranger to hardship. For years, her “parents” have dragged her from one end of Poland to the other as they make a living swindling innocent people. To avoid Włodek’s and Szarlota’s abuse, Kazia has become an unwilling accomplice to their illegal acts; but when a kindly old woman takes Kazia under her wing, things seem like they might finally take a turn for the better. Instead, Babka’s unexpected death sends Kazia down a miserable new path. Forced to loot Babka’s cottage while the old woman’s corpse still lies in bed, Kazia is caught red handed in the act. As punishment for this crime, Kazia is dragged to the Pan Wojewoda’s manor where the village’s cruel overlord sentences her to a dreary existence winding his clocks. The Pan’s dark manor is filled with clocks. Endless clocks. Incessantly ticking clocks. The manor is also filled with secrets. Secrets hide behind the black doors Kazia—upon penalty of death—has been forbidden to touch. They also lurk within his massive clocktower and linger in the glassy eyes of the people inhabiting his village. Each morning, Kazia awakens wondering if it will be her last one on earth until a fateful afternoon when visitors arrive from a neighboring village. Maybe with their help she can finally escape from this village of the damned, but she isn’t the only one who needs saving. There’s more to the Pan than the heartless fiend she first imagined him to be, and to save his soul and hers, she must face the terrors he has been keeping behind his black doors.