The Girl Who Drank the Moon

From the text, we can infer that this magical place is set far in the past.... there are very few roads, and shoes are made from reeds.

The main setting in the novel is the Protectorate, a city that was built after a volcanic eruption some 500 years before. The forest is located outside of the Protectorate and is considered dangerous and toxic. On the other side of the forest there are free cities.