Project Runway meets Mulan in this sweeping fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes about a teenage girl who poses as a boy to compete for the role of imperial tailor and embarks on an impossible journey to sew three magic dresses, from the sun, the moon, and the stars.

“All the cutthroat competition of a runway fashion reality show and the thrilling exploits of an epic quest." —The Washington Post

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest dressmaker in the land, and when a royal messenger summons her father to court, she sees her opportunity. Once a tailor of great renown, her father is too infirm to travel, so Maia poses as his son and travels to the palace in his place, joining eleven other tailors in a competition to become the imperial tailor. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered—as a woman, she’d never be allowed to compete—but she’ll take that risk to save her family from ruin and follow her dream.

The competition is cutthroat, and her task is complicated by Edan, the court enchanter, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through Maia’s disguise. But nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magical gowns that will take her on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

"This is a white-knuckle read." —Tamora Pierce, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Tempests and Slaughter