For readers of A Little Life, Room and Shuggie Bain as well as The Silence of the Girls and I, Claudius, the deeply moving story of a young Roman slave boy growing up in a brothel.

''A stunning work of historical imagination . . . masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship'' - The Observer ''Utterly engrossing, vivid and honest'' - Emma Donoghue, author of Room Meet Sparrow, a boy slave in the 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. 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, Sparrow''s story is a heartrending chronicle of survival.

Autorentext

James Hynes

Klappentext

Sparrow is the Sunday Times bestselling historical epic by James Hynes. An 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?

'Unforgettable' - Daily Mail
**'Utterly engrossing . . . this coming of age story reaches across millennia to grab us by the throat.' - Emma Donoghue, author of Room
'Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' - The Observer**

Zusammenfassung
For readers of A Little Life, Room and Shuggie Bain as well as The Silence of the Girls and I, Claudius, the deeply moving story of a young Roman slave boy growing up in a brothel.