SOLVED. YA Fantasy set in Maya/ Aztec/ Inca Mexico about a girl who tries to escape a human sacrificial event and makes discoveries about the world beyonf her villages narrow understanding/ beliefs. [s]

[Shanice]

There was a lovely book that I had read as a child, that I am now struggling to find, as many details including the name of the book are not as clear anymore. I vaguely remember enough details to hopefully jog someone else's memory into helping me locate this book. I think I first read this somewhere between 2009 and 2012 (give or take a year).

The book is set in one of Mexico's ancient civilisations and in a particular village. Human sacrifice is a tradition to appease the gods and is generally thought to be an honor for those chosen. However, one girl who is chosen does not feel that way and would rather not be a sacrifice, so eventually, both her and some other guy she meets (I think he perhaps was also a sacrifice but was a slave) and they discover a river that looks like it might be there salvation. But they are hesitant as they've never gone so far from the village or they don't know where it will lead. They eventually decide to go and encounter modern civilisation which is very different from their own and seems to challenge what they had previously believed. The girl was the main protagonist and I don't remember much about the guy (he may have been the catalyst in her seeing that becoming a human sacrifice was not an honor). I believe this particular sacrificial event was important to their village as there was a general belief that the sun was dying and therefore the end of the world may have been approaching. I'm hoping someone recognises the story, there may be some inaccuracies in my recounting of the plot so please feel free to suggest anything you think might remotely be similar.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Novel/chapter book? About how long?
Illustrations?
How old is the girl?

[Shanice]

It was a novel. I think it would have been placed in the young adult fantasy genre. The girl was probably between 16-18 years old.

[Shanice]

Sorry I forgot to mention that there were no illustrations within the book (that I can recall).

[Rainbowheart]

A Gift for Ampato?

The Well of Sacrifice?

The Goldsmith's Daughter?

[Shanice]

I actually think you might have gotten it! I’m not sure why I couldn’t find books like this when I was searching, but both “The Goldsmiths Daughter” and “The Well of Sacrifice” have very similar plots to what I described. I think it might actually be the “The Goldsmiths Daughter”as it seems eerily close to what I remember of the story line. Thank you so much!

[David]

You can read The Goldsmith's Daughter at the Internet Archive. Need to be a member, but you can join with just an email address.

https://archive.org/details/goldsmith...

Here is a teacher's summary for The Well of Sacrifice

https://help4teachers.com/WOSTeacherS...

[Shanice]

Thank you David! I will have a look at this archive website.

[Rainbowheart]

I notice this is in the Solved folder.

Was your book definitely The Goldsmith's Daughter?

[Shanice]

Yes the book was definitely “The Goldsmiths Daughter”. I actually have reread it, so looking back at my description it does seem quite off lol.

[Rainbowheart]

Great news! Thanks for the update. :)