The Newbery Medal–winning author of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! gives readers a virtuoso performance in verse in this profoundly original epic pitched just right for fans of poetry, history, mythology, and fantasy.
Welcome to ancient Greece as only genius storyteller Laura Amy Schlitz can conjure it. In a warlike land of wind and sunlight, “ringed by a restless sea,” live Rhaskos and Melisto, spiritual twins with little in common beyond the violent and mysterious forces that dictate their lives. A Thracian slave in a Greek household, Rhaskos is as common as clay, a stable boy worth less than a donkey, much less a horse. Wrenched from his mother at a tender age, he nurtures in secret, aided by Socrates, his passions for art and philosophy. Melisto is a spoiled aristocrat, a girl as precious as amber but willful and wild. She’ll marry and be tamed—the curse of all highborn girls—but risk her life for a season first to serve Artemis, goddess of the hunt.
Bound by destiny, Melisto and Rhaskos—Amber and Clay—never meet in the flesh. By the time they do, one of them is a ghost. But the thin line between life and death is just one boundary their unlikely friendship crosses. It takes an army of snarky gods and fearsome goddesses, slaves and masters, mothers and philosophers to help shape their story into a gorgeously distilled, symphonic tour de force.
Blending verse, prose, and illustrated archeological “artifacts,” this is a tale that vividly transcends time, an indelible reminder of the power of language to illuminate the over- and underworlds of human history.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Welcome to ancient Greece as only genius storyteller Laura Amy Schlitz can conjure it. In a warlike land of wind and sunlight, “ringed by a restless sea,” live Rhaskos and Melisto, spiritual twins with little in common beyond the violent and mysterious forces that dictate their lives. A Thracian slave in a Greek household, Rhaskos is as common as clay, a stable boy worth less than a donkey, much less a horse. Wrenched from his mother at a tender age, he nurtures in secret, aided by Socrates, his passions for art and philosophy. Melisto is a spoiled aristocrat, a girl as precious as amber but willful and wild. She’ll marry and be tamed—the curse of all highborn girls—but risk her life for a season first to serve Artemis, goddess of the hunt.
Bound by destiny, Melisto and Rhaskos—Amber and Clay—never meet in the flesh. By the time they do, one of them is a ghost. But the thin line between life and death is just one boundary their unlikely friendship crosses. It takes an army of snarky gods and fearsome goddesses, slaves and masters, mothers and philosophers to help shape their story into a gorgeously distilled, symphonic tour de force.
Blending verse, prose, and illustrated archeological “artifacts,” this is a tale that vividly transcends time, an indelible reminder of the power of language to illuminate the over- and underworlds of human history.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Praise for this book
"Schlitz is such a bold and intelligent writer. It’s a beautifully written tale." - David Almond
"An original, intriguing, and beautifully worked-out story that brings the ancient past most vividly to life. Top marks for great illustrations, too." - Adèle Geras
"Reading Amber and Clay is like passing through a river into a country that you thought you knew, only to learn that it is both familiar and deeply strange, beautiful and very unsettling. You will find a thrilling archaeological mystery, uncovered piece by broken piece. And you will find two difficult children, struggling to find their place in the world, who grow in the most unpredictable ways. Amber and Clay is a masterpiece. Pass through the river, but know this: you can never pass back through the same river. Because even if the river were somehow the same, you won’t be." - Adam Gidwitz
"Volcanic in power, virtuosic in form, peerless in nuanced execution, Amber and Clay is compulsively readable. I was in thrall to its lyric and threnody at breakfast and at lunch and going up the stairs. The muse chose right in inspiring Laura Amy Schlitz to give us this haunting tale of duty, liberty, art, and friendship." - Gregory Maguire
"Amber and Clay works the best kind of book magic, bringing to life gods and ghosts and philosophers. It is a rare treat." - Megan Whalen Turner
"Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes Laura Amy Schlitz, like a lightning bolt from Mount Olympus, to deliver a book that is a nearly perfect nesting doll of brilliantly imagined narratives. With the help of none other than Sokrates himself, Amber and Clay transports the reader to fifth century bce Athens to confront complex questions about how we mortals manufacture shadowy Truths from our incomplete knowledge and flawed perceptions. But the simple spark holding this epic historical adventure together is the unconquerable certainty and resilience of love. It is a love ‘as precious as amber and as common as clay.’ I am in love with this lyrical novel, its snarky Greek gods, haunting ghosts, archaeological artifacts, and vivid world-building. I swear to the gods, when I was finally able to put this book down, it continued to hum and crackle with electricity." - Allan Wolf
"An original, intriguing, and beautifully worked-out story that brings the ancient past most vividly to life. Top marks for great illustrations, too." - Adèle Geras
"Reading Amber and Clay is like passing through a river into a country that you thought you knew, only to learn that it is both familiar and deeply strange, beautiful and very unsettling. You will find a thrilling archaeological mystery, uncovered piece by broken piece. And you will find two difficult children, struggling to find their place in the world, who grow in the most unpredictable ways. Amber and Clay is a masterpiece. Pass through the river, but know this: you can never pass back through the same river. Because even if the river were somehow the same, you won’t be." - Adam Gidwitz
"Volcanic in power, virtuosic in form, peerless in nuanced execution, Amber and Clay is compulsively readable. I was in thrall to its lyric and threnody at breakfast and at lunch and going up the stairs. The muse chose right in inspiring Laura Amy Schlitz to give us this haunting tale of duty, liberty, art, and friendship." - Gregory Maguire
"Amber and Clay works the best kind of book magic, bringing to life gods and ghosts and philosophers. It is a rare treat." - Megan Whalen Turner
"Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes Laura Amy Schlitz, like a lightning bolt from Mount Olympus, to deliver a book that is a nearly perfect nesting doll of brilliantly imagined narratives. With the help of none other than Sokrates himself, Amber and Clay transports the reader to fifth century bce Athens to confront complex questions about how we mortals manufacture shadowy Truths from our incomplete knowledge and flawed perceptions. But the simple spark holding this epic historical adventure together is the unconquerable certainty and resilience of love. It is a love ‘as precious as amber and as common as clay.’ I am in love with this lyrical novel, its snarky Greek gods, haunting ghosts, archaeological artifacts, and vivid world-building. I swear to the gods, when I was finally able to put this book down, it continued to hum and crackle with electricity." - Allan Wolf
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