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.

A small town at the edge of a dying empire.
A slave boy raised in a brothel, with no known identity or origin.

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

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

About the Author
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.

Reviews
Utterly engrossing, vivid, and honest, this coming of age story reaches across millennia to grab us by the throat.' -- Emma Donoghue
An unnerving, exhilarating, unflinching portrayal of sex, slavery and sisterhood, takes the reader to one the most pitiless backstreets of the Roman Empire in its final years only to discover there - between the violence and the suffering, amid the Decline and the Fall - enduring tenderness and love. This is a novel of ancient times for our times. And it is splendid, a work of scorching distinction. -- Jim Crace



Book Information
ISBN 9781529092400
Author James Hynes
Format Paperback
Page Count 464
Imprint Picador
Publisher Pan Macmillan
Weight(grams) 564g
Dimensions(mm) 233mm * 154mm * 36mm