Pong has grown up in Namwon Prison in Chattanna city, born to a prisoner who later died. Nok, daughter of Namwon Prison's warden, has grown up believing in the rule of law established by the city's governor. Escaping Namwon at 9, Pong spends four years at a Buddhist temple in the mountains, taught and protected by Father Cham, before Nok's family arrives in the nearby village. Knowing Nok has recognized him, Pong flees. Nok goes in pursuit, wanting to prove herself to her family. Back in Chantanna, Pong gets caught up in a resistance movement among the city's poor against the government. He's motivated less by the fight for justice than the movement leader's promise to help him flee the city again. Nok, hunting for Pong, feels no compassion for the hardships of the city's poor. As the governor, whose costly magical orbs light the city, says: "Light shines on the worthy." Nok doesn't see that wealth, not worthiness, determines opportunity, and government laws perpetuate the economic status quo. A vibrant, richly textured fantasy in a Thai-inspired setting moves back and forth between Pong's and Nok's narratives, which collide at the protest in this homage to Les Miserables and its social justice-driven themes. Pong and Nok lead an entire cast of memorable characters, and the two protagonists don't just come to see the world around them more clearly, but themselves and one another, too. (Ages 9-12)