Terra Incognita

Steph Post’s extraordinary hand-crafted novel, the 100-copy literary sensation of 2024 as featured in Crime Reads/LitHub, made available in wide release as a Blackstone eBook!

New York City, 1889. With her neighborhood engulfed in flames over a turf war, professional pickpocket Lily Vane has nowhere to hide. Out of luck, she steals the wrong piece of jewelry from the wrong man—an ancient ring, owned by Gentleman explorer Sir Ashmore Bedivere. He recognizes instantly that Lily’s wily criminal talents could prove useful to him and grants her clemency in return for service. Thus Lily’s fate is sealed: she finds herself embarking on Ashmore’s quest to find Alatyra, the last lost city.

Joining her are Ashmore’s cunning wife, Cristabel, and their three business partners. As the six journey from New York City—first to Tangier, then across the Mediterranean and Black Seas, and into the dark forests and mountains of Romania—Lily learns to trust her new companions. But as they draw closer to Alatyra, Ashmore’s past sins threaten to swallow the entire expedition whole.

Told in a constellation of voices and forms, Terra Incognita is more than a thrilling historical adventure full of daring heists, stunning reveals, and near-captures; it is an immersive experience.