On the death of her master, Letta is suddenly promoted from apprentice to wordsmith, charged with collecting and archiving words in post-apocalyptic, neo-medieval Ark. When she uncovers a sinister plan to suppress language and rob the people of Ark of the power of speech, she realises that she has to save not only words, but the culture itself.
The Times Book of the Week in September 2025
How many words do you need to survive?
Letta loves her job as the Wordsmith's apprentice, giving out words to people that need them. It doesn't strike her as odd that the people of Ark are only allowed to use a few hundred words, and words like ?love?, ?hope? and ?freedom? are banned.
When her master disappears, Letta begins to understand that all is not well, and that the leaders of Ark want to destroy language forever. It is up to her to stop them silencing what is left of the human race. But she is only a young girl, and they are the leaders of the known world...
