What was this YA scifi novel?

Cafe Society
#1

I’ve got another one of those puzzlers for y’all.

I would have read it in the nineties, but I think it was a bit older than that. The protagonist was a teenage girl. The whole thing was set in fantasy-ish world where I think there was no sun; I think it was blocked out by smog. The protagonist was part of an undercaste that I think mined coal. She had some sort of power that could generate heat or fire or something like that and she was picked up by some male noble who noticed. I think he was about her age. The main thing I remember is that her family’s symbol was a stylized lion head, but we find out in the end it was really a sun disc.

#2

Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan. I was always sad that she never wrote anything else set in that particular world - I thought it was a very interesting twist on the whole “fantasy world” trope.

Hope you like it as much this time around!

#3

I totally forgot about this thread, but you got it in one Lasciel. Thanks!

#4

No worries - like I said, it made an impact on me also. I especially remember thinking how odd it was that a “mythological animal” like a lion would be remembered by oppressed people, but that the sun itself would be utterly forgotten about.

#5

I dunno. Five hours.

We’re slipping.