Salka: The exquisite retelling of the tragic myth of the Lady of the Lake from the multi-million bestselling author
By (Author) Francesca Simon
Faber & Faber
Faber & Faber
5th August 2025
24th April 2025
Main
United Kingdom
Young Adult
Fiction
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Magical realism / Magical fantasy
Childrens / Teenage fiction: Traditional stories
Childrens / Teenage personal and social topics: Dating, relationships, romance a
823.92
Hardback
272
Width 129mm, Height 198mm
A passionate retelling of a haunting myth, a tragic romance that echoes through the ages.
The moment I saw her face.
The moment I heard her siren song . . .
Salka, the faerie Lady of the Lake, can't help but appear to Owain, a shepherd who has already captured her heart. He needs only to see her to fall deeply in love. But her father has one condition on their marriage: if Owain strikes her three times she must return to the Lake forever. Despite their married bliss, Salka is not like the other inhabitants in this small village. Gossip turns against her and as prejudice and suspicion breed, Owain finds himself wishing his wife was more ordinary, that she tried harder to fit in, that she was less . . . herself.
What is more of a strike than to question her very nature The first heart-blow is struck. And now, desperately, their future lies in his hands . . .
Francesca Simon's first novel for an adult readership is an exquisite and tautly moving tragedy told by multiple voices, both a richly woven retelling of an ancient Welsh myth and a thought-provoking drama for our times.
Francesca Simon MBE has written over sixty books, including the Horrid Henry series, which has sold millions of copies worldwide. The Monstrous Child, her opera based on her novel, premiered at the Royal Opera House. Francesca is a passionate ambassador for children's literacy and a former trustee of the World Book Day charity. Salka is her first novel for an adult readership.