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Sparrow

James Hynes

From Shelf: The BA Summer Books Catalogue

In the vein of A Little Life, Room and Shuggie Bain as well as The Silence of the Girls and I, Claudius, the story of a young slave boy growing up in a brothel.

'Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' - The Observer'Utterly engrossing, vivid and honest' - Emma DonoghueMeet Jacob - aka Sparrow - a boy slave in a brothel in the Spanish city of New Carthage in the last years of pagan Rome. Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying 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, and dodging the blows of their brutal overseer and 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 markets, temples, taverns of the lowly and mansions of the rich - to vivid, brutal life. Walking through lost places, hearing forgotten voices, this story belongs to the slave class that made an infamous empire function.This is a powerfully affecting and memorable character.This is Sparrow.

Format:
Hardback
Pages:
464
Publisher:
Pan Macmillan
ISBN:
9781529092394
Published Date:
4/5/2023
Dimensions:
241mm x 165mm x 45mm
Weight:
694g
Category:
Historical fiction

RRP: £16.99

Format: Hardback

ISBN: 9781529092394


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