An unusual fantasy tale resides in NOBODY'S GODDESS. In this land, the children run and play, so at first we think the masks and tales about goddesses are just games. But the boys have to wear masks while the girls must never gaze towards the castle - this could start an earthquake. When boys reach 13 years, they will see a particular girl and find a goddess to love and respect in her. Our guide Noll is, by 16, wondering if she will lose all her playmates to girls, like her pretty sister Elfriede. Nobody has seen a goddess in Noll, and she thought that suited her, but it's starting to get lonely.

The one unmarried woman in the village, Ingrith, tells Noll that if you look at a man's face without loving him, and nobody else loves him, he will vanish. If a man isn't loved in return, his goddess can send him to join the wretched commune. Everyone has to believe the tales, and that day an earthquake alarms the quarry men. Ingrith resents the command of the lord in the castle, his sinister servants, and how this man doles out the blessings of the First Goddess. Tragedy strikes when she pushes her defiance too far.

Noll loves Jurij, the boy who falls for her sister, and as a result of what Noll feels is a curse, Jurij can never love anyone but Elfriede. Noll gathers her courage to walk blindly to the castle, hoping to ask a favour. She doesn't realise that this will change her life.

Amy McNulty's story takes a little while to unravel as it is tightly wound from the start. The tensions abruptly switch between Noll's familiar world and another in which she discovers that men can actually give women orders. This is a deeply philosophical tale wrapped and presented as a medieval fantasy, with more than one romance teetering on the edge of despair. The enigmatic dark lord in the castle proves a memorable antihero in the same vein as BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. I'm impressed by this original world and the quality of the writing. NOBODY'S GODDESS is a compelling adventure and an extraordinary accomplishment. Young Adults and adults alike will find Amy McNulty's heart-grabbing story a great read.