Hawk & Sparrow
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected 15 Sept 2026
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In the industrious city of Basalton at the height of the gilded age, highborn families use enchantments to flaunt power and status. The lower classes dabble in cheap counterfeit enchantments that, if misused, can prove deadly.
Seventeen-year-old orphan Vesper Evans doesn't trust magic, or the sorcerers who wield it. Instead, she commits herself to her job as a writer for the Basalton Herald. But when her newspaper finds itself under threat of permanent closure, Vesper will do anything to save it. Then, when she witnesses a murder first-hand, everything changes.
Maximilian Kite is not only the heir to one of Basalton’s wealthiest families, he’s also a sorcerer, and one with a bold proposal for Vesper. If she can use her investigative skill to help him solve that murder (and prove his innocence) he’ll pay her more money than she's ever seen in her life.
Max is everything Vesper despises—but his offer is too good to pass up. And to infiltrate the upper class, Vesper must pretend they are courting. What ever could go wrong?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gray (Beasts of War) weaves Gilded Age intrigue, Sherlockian mystery, cunning fantasy, and scintillating romance into a dazzling tapestry. Brown-skinned Vesper Evans, 19, uses her sharp eyes and unassuming demeanor to excel as a newspaper reporter at The Basalton Globe. While attending a technological exhibition, she witnesses ivory-skinned inventor Francis Gladwell reveal a machine capable of instantly replicating spellwork that would take a person years of study to achieve. She then finds Gladwell dead shortly after his presentation. Vesper's primary suspect is 20-year-old sorcerer Maximilian Kite, described with "milk white" skin, who chafed against Gladwell's invention. Following a rocky introduction, Max, in a bid to prove his innocence, hires Vesper to investigate the murder, offering her an exorbitant sum that could keep her financially struggling newspaper afloat. To infiltrate and interrogate Max's upper echelon peers, the pair pose as a courting couple. As Vesper grows closer to Max and delves deeper into her inquiry, she realizes the city's elite are hiding dangerous secrets. Alluring prose captures the grandeur of high-society life, but the heart of this spirited mystery lies in its discerning consideration of feminism, class differences, and marginalized individuals. It's a fun, wily, and profound interrogation of sociological systems. Ages 14–up.
