Sparrow
04 May 2023Synopsis
As an empire burns, he will rise from the ashes.
Sparrow, the Sunday Times bestselling historical epic by James Hynes, is the incredibly moving story of one boy’s journey to freedom in the harsh world of the Roman Empire.
A small town at the edge of a dying empire.
A slave boy raised in a brothel, with no known identity or origin.
Sparrow’s world consists of a kitchen and herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the wolves, the women who have shaped his world, conduct their business. Where freedom is only for a privileged few, Sparrow’s life is hard-edged and violent.
But change is coming.
The world outside his garden is about to be reshaped, and as an empire crumbles, murder and mayhem will come to Sparrow’s door. As the only family he’s ever known scatters, will Sparrow fall – or fly?
‘Truly unforgettable' – Daily Mail
‘Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' – The Observer
Details
04 May 2023
9781529092400Reviews
Utterly engrossing, vivid, and honest, this coming of age story reaches across millennia to grab us by the throat.'Emma Donoghue
An unnerving, exhilarating, unflinching portrayal of sex, slavery and sisterhood, takes the reader to one the most pitiless backstreets of the Roman Empire in its final years only to discover there - between the violence and the suffering, amid the Decline and the Fall - enduring tenderness and love. This is a novel of ancient times for our times. And it is splendid, a work of scorching distinction.Jim Crace
