In Brittany there is a belief about a black man named Anku, who takes sinners on their last journey. Many people have a one-way trip ahead on his black cart - it’s 1914, and the thunder of an unprecedented war has reached even remote fishing villages. But what awaits Gwen, the healer’s apprentice, is not the afterlife, but an unknown, distant country that seems to have stepped out of an ancient painting. In the lands of the Twelve Provinces, steamships and submarines have never been heard of, but they believe that the pibil bird can heal wounds, and turtles can travel to time. Who knows, maybe it’s not in vain that they believe. A lucky break saves Gwen from slavery and certain death - but now he must survive in a new, cruel world where no one trusts anyone. And there is no way back from here: the sea is teeming with predatory krakens, and on land all borders are guarded by powerful customs - a source of horror for some and sure profit for others. Francois Place (born in 1957) is a famous French illustrator and author of children's books, and the novel " Prisoner of the Twelve Provinces” is his feature debut. In this surprisingly atmospheric text, he weaves a historical narrative with fantasy details and creates an alternative reality reminiscent of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Skyrim” at the same time. Lire magazine named “The Prisoner ...” the best teenage book of 2010 and noted that the story of Gwen’s coming of age in its own way aesthetics “closer to the paintings of Dutch painters.” Nina Khotinskaya, familiar to readers from her translations of living classics of France - Bernard Verber, Patrick Modiano, Anna Gavalda and others, was able to preserve this beauty in Russian.