Land of El. The Poison Swallower. Volume 1

A new epic fantasy trilogy from the legendary Emily Rodda!
The rich and the poor, the famous and the unknown, the beloved and the lonely, El live everywhere, unrecognized by anyone except the storytellers who call us by a hundred different names. We have only two laws, and the first states that we must not reveal our true nature to mortals.
Derry knows no other life but that of a slave and taster of poisons on the pirate Crame's rock. The horrors he has experienced in the past have erased his memory. Here, at the edge of the world, among the raging waves and books with ancient prophecies, he is an outcast even among his peers. For he is a close associate of Crame himself. And no one must know that he can read!
Everything will begin to change with the arrival of an unusual wayfarer on the rock. Hiding from pursuers, she will leave Derry her encrypted notebook, full of secrets of the ancient race of immortals, El. It may be the key to the fate and past of the boy himself.
In a world once split in two by a giant meteor, where technology opposes ignorance, and freedom battles tyranny, a great tale begins about the strength of spirit, the search for self, and the confrontation with powerful forces.