Award-winning Rachel Hartman's newest YA is a tour de force and an exquisite fantasy for the #metoo movement.

"Tess of the Road is astonishing and perfect. It's the most compassionate book I've read since George Eliot's Middlemarch." --NPR

In the medieval kingdom of Goredd, women are expected to be ladies, men are their protectors, and dragons can be whomever they choose. Tess is none of these things. Tess is... different. She speaks out of turn, has wild ideas, and can't seem to keep out of trouble. Then Tess goes too far. What she's done is so disgraceful, she can't even allow herself to think of it. Unfortunately, the past cannot be ignored. So Tess's family decide the only path for her is a nunnery.

But on the day she is to join the nuns, Tess chooses a different path for herself. She cuts her hair, pulls on her boots, and sets out on a journey. She's not running away, she's running towards something. What that something is, she doesn't know. Tess just knows that the open road is a map to somewhere else--a life where she might belong.

Returning to the spellbinding world of the Southlands she created in the award-winning, New York Times bestselling novel Seraphina, Rachel Hartman explores self-reliance and redemption in this wholly original fantasy.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR * BOSTON GLOBE * The Chicago Public Library * KIRKUS REVIEWS

Four starred reviews!

"The world building is gorgeous, the creatures are vivid and Hartman is a masterful storyteller. Pick up this novel, and savor every page." --Paste Magazine

• We started tracking this book on June 27, 2017.
• This book was $10.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 27 times in the past 2,807 days.
• The current price of this book is $1.99 last checked 10 hours ago.
• The lowest price to date was $1.99 last reached on March 2, 2025.
• This book has been $1.99 3 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $10.99 last reached on November 11, 2021.
• This book has been $10.99 5 times since we started tracking it.
• This book is currently at its lowest price since we started tracking it.

• Teen & Young AdultScience Fiction & FantasyFantasyComing of Age

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 538 Pages