Berkelouw Books Paddington invite you meet Ilka Tampke when she introduces her gripping new novel Skin.

Southwest Britain, AD 43. For the people of Caer Cad, "skin" is their belief, their greeting, their ancestors, their land. Ailia does not have skin. Abandoned at birth she serves the Tribequeen of her township. She is not permitted to marry, excluded from ceremonies and forbidden to learn. But the Mothers, the tribal ancestors, have chosen another path for her.

Skin is the thrilling and captivating story of a young woman's rise to power in Iron-Age Britain on the eve of the Roman invasion. A rousing tale of the collision of two societes, the making of a female leader, and the choices Ailia has to make amidst the storm-cloud of the Roman advance.

Ilka Tampke has undertaken incredible research and Skin is historically accurate in its depictions of the arrival of the modern world and what happens when an imperial culture imposes its power and crushes an ancient belief system.

Ilka Tampke was awarded a Glenfern Fellowship in 2012. Her short stories and articles have been published in several anthologies. She lives in Woodend, Australia. Skin is her first novel.