James Hynes

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Sparrow

'Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' - The Observer

'Utterly engrossing, vivid and honest' - Emma Donoghue, author of Room

Meet Jacob - aka Sparrow - a boy slave in the Spanish city of New Carthage in the twilight years of pagan Rome.

Raised in a brothel on the margins of a great empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow, who sings without reason and can fly from trouble. His world is a kitchen, a herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the 'wolves' - prostitutes and slaves from every corner of the empire - conduct their business.

He spends his days listening to stories told by his beloved 'mother' Euterpe, running errands for her lover the cook, while dodging the blows of their brutal overseer and eluding the machinations of the chief wolf, Melpomene. A hard fate awaits Sparrow, one that involves suffering, murder, mayhem, and the scattering of the women who have been his whole world.

Through meticulous research and bold imagination, James Hynes brings the entirety of the Roman city of Carthago Nova - its bustling markets, grand temples, taverns of the lowly and mansions of the rich - to vivid, brutal life. Walking through lost places, hearing forgotten voices, this is a heartrending chronicle of survival, told through one of the most memorable voices of recent fiction.

This is Sparrow.