In a quiet, grand estate in the middle of the woods, Larissa Wagner reads a book. She spends her days wistful and restless, dreaming of distant lands and romantic adventures, hoping one day to become a proper, courtly lady. However, with the death of her father leaving the family in disarray, she resigns herself to the prospect of a modest, normal life. But in a flash of violence and horror, her starry-eyed dreams are dashed, and her sheltered life of privilege and indulgence comes to an abrupt end. Haunted by disturbing visions from the past, she finds herself hunted by a secret order, pursued by ruthless agents that will stop at nothing. Alone and on her own for the first time in her life, she descends deep into the darkness of a conspiratorial world. A work of alternative fantasy, Sifter evokes an original world that eschews genre conventions.