Promotional Information

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.

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

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

Utterly engrossing, vivid, and honest, this coming of age story reaches across millennia to grab us by the throat.'
*Emma Donoghue, author of Room*

An unnerving, exhilarating, unflinching portrayal of sex, slavery and sisterhood . . . This is a novel of ancient times for our times. And it is splendid, a work of scorching distinction.
*Jim Crace, author of Harvest*

Sparrow is a brilliantly written page-turner, a complex, vital, sometimes brutal story told with heartrending beauty.
*Kate Christensen, author of The Great Man*

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*