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.
Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow.
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 James Hynes is the author of several books including Sparrow, Next, Kings of Infinite Space, The Lecturer's Tale, Publish and Perish, and The Wild Colonial Boy. He lives in Austin, Texas. Meet Jacob – aka Sparrow – a boy slave in a brothel in the Spanish city of New Carthage in the last years of pagan Rome. His story is as much for readers who were moved by A Little Life, Room and Shuggie Bain as those fascinated by The Silence of the Girls and I, Claudius.
