Melissa Mickelsen was born and raised in Georgia. She currently lives in Germany with her Air Force husband and two cats. Melissa loves hiking in the mountains, eating strawberries, reading, reading, more reading, and really good barbecue. Nightingale is her debut novel.
She began writing in high school and has published a few short stories in online magazines. After graduating from the University of Georgia in 2007 with a degree in Art History, Melissa worked in various jobs, such as a mental health technician at a large hospital and as a serials assistant in a medical library, before pursuing a master’s degree in technical communication and information design from Southern Polytechnic State University.
Although she does not write full time, that is a goal for the future. Nightingale, published by Hadley Rille Books, is hopefully the first of many. The novel tells the story of a young girl, taken from her family and held enslaved by the man that killed them. She is forced to kill, to become an assassin called the Nightingale. Though the girl is young, she has the strength of steel and vows revenge. It might be easier if the vaunted General Astin Talros, the king’s most trusted Weapon, did not haunt her trail.
Carfuinel, an anthehome in the far north, has seen two such beings in its long existence. The first died in infancy, but the second, a stronger-willed creature, survived. Shielded from the animosity of others by her parents, the child thrived. Until the day when everything changed forever.
The half-anthela, half-cardea girl, after having seen her home and family destroyed, vows revenge on the man responsible. The odds are weighed heavily against her. She is young and brash, and trapped by the power of a small green stone that binds to her the whims of her tormentor. He transforms her into a most deadly assassin, hoping that her demon-like presence at his side will pave the way for the domination of a kingdom. But the girl, now called the Nightingale, has a steely strength that refuses to crack.
She has lost her home, family, freedom, and even her name. But she is stronger than anyone realizes, and she will not break easily. Her captor, and even all of the cardeai kingdom of Caesia, would do well to remember that.
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