Terror was within. Terror was without. Like her mother, she was at the water's mercy. In the enchanted world of Aeolia, fifteen-year-old Esme Silver faces her hardest task yet. She must master her unruly Gift - the power to observe the past - and uncover the secrets she needs to save her mother, Ariane. In between attending school in the beguiling canal city of Esperance, Esme and her friends - old and new - travel far and wide across Aeolia, gathering the ingredients for a potent magical elixir. Their journey takes them to volcanic isles, sunken ruins and snowy eyries, spectacular places fraught with danger, where they must face their deepest fears and find hope in the darkest of places. Esme's Gift, the second instalment in the Esme trilogy, is a gripping fantasy adventure for readers 12 years and over.