Lampblack

Mabel's immigrant family can barely scratch out a living in their backwater fishing village. When her mother loses her job, Mabel knows their only hope of survival is in the magic they brought from the motherland. Mabel is an ink girl, born with the ability to bring anything she paints to life. It's a dangerous gift, one she is forbidden to use. But she can't put down her brush. She won't. She was born to paint, and the ink allows her to create beauty and magic out of her simple life. She will save her family with her paintings, whatever the cost. Sterling Cohen is Deaf, and the only heir of Fin's largest industrial conglomerate. But his father is a tyrant--in commerce and at home. Sterling and his father have never understood each other. Mr. Cohen has never made an effort to learn sign language to communicate with him, and Sterling is ashamed of his father's destructive business strategies. Sterling dreams of becoming a soldier, and will abandon his father's business empire to serve his country.