Meet Jacob - aka Sparrow - a boy slave in a brothel in the Spanish city of New Carthage in the last years of pagan Rome. His story is as much for readers who were moved by A Little Life, Room and Shuggie Bain as those fascinated by The Silence of the Girls and I, Claudius.

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.

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?

‘Truly unforgettable' – Daily Mail
‘Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship' – The Observer

"A stunning work of historical imagination . . . Masterful in its portrayal of love, sex and friendship" - The Observer

"Hynes, using his pen like a cinematic overview, makes us see everything, the streets, the markets, the homes . . . everything is historically documented." - La Stampa

"Sparrow feels like an entirely authentic portrait . . . James Hynes renders this hidden world so powerfully and vividly." - The Times

"A bleak and brutal story, vividly told by Hynes, who has created a truly unforgettable character in the resilient Sparrow" - Daily Mail