Westmark is a fantasy novel by Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Chudley Alexander was a widely influential American author of more than forty books, mostly fantasy novels for children and adolescents, as well as several adult books...

 that received an American Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

. It is the first book of the Westmark trilogy, followed by The Kestrel

The Kestrel

The Kestrel is the second book of Lloyd Alexander's Westmark trilogy, following Westmark, and preceding The Beggar Queen. The trilogy is set in the fictional nation of Westmark, which resembles 18th-century Europe.-Plot summary:...

and The Beggar Queen

The Beggar Queen

The Beggar Queen is the last book of the Westmark trilogy by Lloyd Alexander, published by E. P. Dutton in 1984.-Plot introduction:Mickle, once a common street urchin, is now the queen of Westmark. The kingdom is thriving, yet at the same time, it is strangely restless. Ghosts of the past lurk...

. Showing influences from the French existentialist writers whose works Alexander translated early in his career, the series is far darker and more adult than Alexander's previous works such as The Chronicles of Prydain

The Chronicles of Prydain

The Chronicles of Prydain is a five-volume series of children's fantasy novels by author Lloyd Alexander...

. Although often classified as fantasy, there is no magic, nor any sign of any sort of religious belief, in Westmark, or the succeeding volumes.