Sparrow
(Book)

"This edition first published in hardcover in 2023 by The Overlook Press, an imprint of Abrams"--Title page verso.

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 little community that has been his whole world.