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Carrie Anne Noble’s The Springborn leaps to life with rich characters that ache with humanity, walking through themes well-known by teen and young adult readers.
—Lorehaven review, 2025

The Springborn

When an 1800s coal town girl grows antlers, she lives in shame and isolation until she meets a moth-winged boy who knows her secret–and has secrets of his own.
· October 2024
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An 1880s coal town is no place for a girl with antlers.

Once upon a winter’s day, a childless miner and his wife find baby Sabella in a mysterious basket. When she suddenly grows a pair of silvery gray antlers, they hide her from the world in embarrassment and fear.

Seventeen years later, Sabella’s life is nothing but housework and loneliness—but charming, nineteen-year-old Calder arrives on her doorstep determined to change that. He knows her secret and has plenty of his own. Among them: he’s been her unseen protector for years, he has the wings of a moth, and he’s part of the Springborn: a group of people with extraordinary gifts like theirs.

As Calder strives to win Sabella’s heart and the Springborn welcome her with open arms, disaster strikes. She and Calder must work together to save their exceptional family from an unlikely enemy—and in doing so, discover what it means to be true to themselves, their gifts, and each other.

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Review of The Springborn

Carrie Anne Noble’s The Springborn leaps to life with rich characters that ache with humanity, walking through themes well-known by teen and young adult readers.
· February 2025

At age eleven, Sabella grew a set of silvery gray antlers. That makes her different, and among the residents of an 1880s coal-mining town, different means death. That is, until a new boarder arrives, bringing news of a secret connection to her past and special giftings of his own. Carrie Anne Noble’s The Springborn leaps to life with rich characters that ache with humanity. This standalone story walks through themes well-known by many teen and young adult readers—painful separation between parents, love lost and found, and the simple joys amidst the struggles. Noble cuts new trails across these well-trod paths, leading readers into an original tale of hope and healing.

Best for: Teen and adult fans of magical realism with lyrical storytelling.

Discern: Emotional abuse and manipulation by parents and parental figures, mild violence, verbal abuse because of appearance.

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