Chapter 1
“Hey, Black!” A kid threw a ball of cow dung at the painting little Edward Black had spent hours colouring. The painting was ruined. Black turned around to see the kids chuckling as they hurried away. Eleven-year-old Black froze, then flung his paintbrush onto the ground in his front yard. He kicked the canvas, sending it toppling over, stormed inside his house and slammed the front door behind him. Edward Black was not well liked by the other kids. Almost every day, he was bullied and mocked. He had no one to protect him except his mother, who was often ill and confined to their home. His grandfather, an elderly farmer in the village of Gaunt, took care of them both. But all of this had left Edward intensely lonely and alienated from the world. For all practical purposes, he had no one. The only thing Black loved was painting. He had been a wonderful painter from the beginning. He had never seen his father, yet, from his mother’s description alone, he had managed to paint a portrait t...