Margaret Owen

Little Thieves retells the Goose Girl from the maid's side: a thief who has stolen a princess's face and life, with about two weeks left before a god collects on the bargain. Owen worked in film and animation before writing, and the Merciful Crow books came first, set in a world where the lowest caste can use the bones of the dead. She lives in Seattle, and the humour in the books is a good deal drier than the covers suggest.