Plot points I remember (in what I think is chronological order in the book)
- Ellen having green eyes is somehow important, it’s so unusual in her world that it signals some kind of magic ability to some people, to other characters it’s just strange.
- She is either abandoned, or something else happens where she gets washed away by a muddy river. She ends up waking up in an old man’s hut in a completely different village, and the old man takes care of her.
- I distinctly remember a scene where she gets hold of a harp, and starts playing a song she heard in the town/market square from memory. The old man comments on this and finds it remarkable.
- Ellen is multitalented and when she grows up she decides she wants to become a doctor for magical creatures. I remember a specific scene where she has to write an essay explaining why she wants to be an animal doctor.
- I remember another scene where there is a lion-like creature who refuses to eat or a similar malady, and noone can figure out what’s wrong with it. The creature makes sounds like a harp. Ellen cobbles together a string instrument like a harp, to make sounds to it back, and heals the creature.
- I might be mixing this up with another book, but I’m fairly sure someone meets a character who plays the violin, and then pulls a sword out of the bow.
- similarly unsure if this is the same book I’m remembering, but toward the end of the book, ellen has to protect some royalty or some important people on a boat.
Other details
- I read the book on kindle in the 2010’s, likely between 2014 and 2016. I was between 9 and 14
- It’s likely it was a children’s book, but it might have been YA.
- There was no romance that I can remember.
- There seemed to be a large emphasis on Asian mythology. Some of the magic and the creatures reminded me a lot of Avatar the Last Airbender, but I don’t remember them well enough to say what they were.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can find this!