The Tasters Guild (34 page)

stinkhorn
in need of bath

sweet pea
small

violet
modesty, faithfulness

witch hazel
protection; inverted: jeopardy

yarrow
health, healing

Susannah Appelbaum comes from a family of doctors and philosophers, which instilled in her both an early fascination and a great deal of caution with bottles marked “Poison.” She worked in magazine publishing for many years and now lives with her family in New York’s Hudson Valley and in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where her garden prefers to grow weeds.

Susannah’s first book was
The Hollow Bettle
, Book I of the Poisons of Caux trilogy. Please visit her on the Web at
www.susannahappelbaum.com
.

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2010 by Susannah Appelbaum
Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Jennifer Taylor

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Appelbaum, Susannah.
The Tasters Guild / Susannah Appelbaum; illustrated by Jennifer Taylor. — 1st ed.
p. cm.—

(Poisons of Caux ; bk. 2)
Summary: Eleven-year-old Ivy Manx sets out with her friends for the dangerous city of Rocamadour, where poison and the evil Tasters Guild rule, in the hopes of finding a door to the sisterland of Pimcaux and fulfilling a great and ancient prophecy.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89619-4
[1. Poisons—Fiction. 2. Voyages and travels—Fiction. 3. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction. 4. Fantasy.] I. Taylor, Jennifer (Jennifer Ann), ill. II. Title.
PZ7.A6445Tas 2010

[Fic]—dc22
2009028710

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