Russia, February 1534: Before Ivan IV could become the "Terrible," he had to survive murderous palace intrigue when he was just a baby—a toddler king.

While elite clans battle for control of the country, a sixteen-year-old girl considers suicide on learning that her father has chosen to settle his vendetta with a rival family by marrying her to the son of his enemy. If she refuses, she condemns her kinsmen to death, and she has already witnessed her beloved younger brother slaughtered before her eyes. Reluctantly, she agrees to the match.

But marriage soon defies even Nasan's low expectations. Her husband has a mistress, her brother's killer still lives, the women of her new household reject her as an intruder, and she cannot even complain, because she barely speaks Russian. To escape her misery, she hides her identity behind a mask and male clothes and slips out of her house at night.

Nasan's nighttime activities reveal an underground world of crime and abuse previously hidden from her. She helps those in need, and her fame spreads. People call her the Golden Lynx. Society's expectations work in her favor: no one suspects that Moscow's newest hero spends his days in the women's quarters. But as Nasan finds a sense of purpose, she realizes that more lies at stake than her personal happiness. Danger threatens the very future of the state. And so, a girl who has inadvertently become the greatest hero of her time must save a baby destined to become the greatest villain of his.

As of August 2011, you can read Chapter 1 of The Golden Lynx in The Lyon Review, the literary journal for Mount Holyoke College alumnae and faculty.

Write to me: cplesley at cplesley.com.