Kind, thoughtful, and a skilled woodworker, Antain is an Elder-in-Training and is not privy to the truth about the Witch. Thirteen-year-old Antain is Gherland’s too-curious nephew. Gherland and the Elders know there is no such thing as an evil Witch in the wood: The yearly sacrifice, although unpleasant, is designed to keep the citizens sorrowful and submissive, and keep the Elders in power. Supported by the learned Sisters of the Star and their elite soldiers, Gherland maintains the power imbalance between the cowed, impoverished citizens and the powerful and wealthy Elders. Gherland is the head of the Council of Elders, the Protectorate’s ruling body. It is the Day of Sacrifice in the Protectorate, and Grand Elder Gherland prepares to preside over the annual baby offering. The Protectorate is a cloudy, foggy, gloomy town located between a fertile, life-giving bog and a forest filled with dangers thanks to a restless underground volcano. A parent explains to a curious child that on the yearly Day of Sacrifice, the people of the Protectorate are compelled to give an infant to the evil Witch or else she will destroy them all. While the majority of The Girl Who Drank the Moon is told in the third-person omniscient perspective, the narrative is interspersed with stories related by first-person narrators.
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