This dazzling sequel to the phenomenal The Book of Stolen Dreams that Publishers Weekly compared to the work of Kelly Barnhill and Lemony Snicket sees Rachel shouldering her new responsibility as key keeper when a girl goes missing. After defeating the tyrant Malstain, Rachel and Robert are the heroes of Krasnia...but all is not how it should be. Robert is swept away with his new friends, leaving Rachel alone to take care of their ailing father, who's lost without their beloved mother.

Rachel has also become the keeper of the hidden blood red key that opens the way into the Hinterland and is sworn to answer when it calls. So when a young girl, Elsa Spiegel, is illegally smuggled into the Hinterland, Rachel has no choice but to use her key to save her. But Elsa's fate is linked to Krasnia's, and Rachel's rescue mission turns into a battle to save her home as she knows it.