The Girl with the Golden Hair and the Iron Witch, (Paperback)

<p>Twelve-year-old Altyn has always known the Kazakh steppe was full of stories. She just never expected one to grow out of her own head.</p><p>When a blood-red dust storm called the Iron Witch tears across her family's yurt, Altyn's hair turns to heavy, chiming strands of real gold. The new "treasure" calls something worse than greed. The Witch steals her grandmother Aje's shadow, leaving the only mother Altyn has ever known to harden into a statue of salt.</p><p>To get Aje back, Altyn must cross the shimmer-line into the Altay-Beyond-a hidden realm of glass mountains, singing dunes, and rivers of starlight water. With the help of Kairat, a boy made of almost-weightless shadow, and a Tulpar, the winged horse of legend, Altyn follows a living map toward the Bayterek, the Tree of Life at the center of all worlds.</p><p>But in the City of Rust, where the Iron Witch melts down stolen memories to power her moving fortress, Altyn discovers a harsher truth: her golden hair isn't a prize. It's a question. How much of herself is she willing to give up to heal a thirsty world?</p><p>To save Aje, the steppe, and the stories that keep her people alive, Altyn must decide what matters more-holding on to her inheritance, or weaving it into something larger than herself. If she chooses wrong, the Iron Wind will grind the last memories of blue water and green grass into rust and dust forever.</p>

• The Girl with the Golden Hair and the Iron Witch, (Paperback)
• Author: Dawnette Brenner
• ISBN: 9798903335923
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-03-10
• Page Count: 138