A new fantastical retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, Gilded is the first instalment in a new duology from Marissa Meyer, the New York Times bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles.

What if Rumpelstiltskin isn't the villain of the story?

By the following winter solstice, the miller would become the father of a baby girl. She was indeed healthy and strong, and in that, the god of stories had granted the wish precisely as requested. But what the miller had not considered is that the god of stories is also the god of lies. The trickster god. For every story has two sides to it. The hero and the villain. The dark and the light. The blessing and the curse.

Long ago, cursed by the god of lies, a poor miller's daughter has developed a talent for spinning stories that are fantastical and spellbinding and entirely untrue. Or so everyone believes.

When one of Serilda's outlandish tales draws the attention of the sinister Erlking and his undead hunters, she finds herself swept into a grim world where ghouls and phantoms prowl and hollow-eyed ravens track her every move. Erlking imprisons Serilda in his castle and sets her the impossible task of spinning straw into gold, a task she must complete or be killed for telling falsehoods.

In her desperation, Serilda unwittingly summons a mysterious boy to her aid. He agrees to help her-for a price. Love isn't meant to be part of the bargain.

Soon Serilda realises that there is more than one secret hidden in the castle walls, including an ancient curse that must be broken if she hopes to end the tyranny of Erlking and his wild hunt forever.