New York Times best-selling author A. J. Hartley returns to his
intriguing 19th-century South African-inspired fantasy world in
Firebrand, another adrenaline-pounding adventure.
Once a steeplejack, Anglet Sutonga is used to scaling the heights of
Bar-Selehm. Nowadays she assists politician Josiah Willinghouse behind
the scenes of Parliament. The latest threat to the city-state:
Government plans for a secret weapon are stolen and feared to be sold to
the rival nation of Grappoli. The investigation leads right to the
doorsteps of Elitus, one of the most exclusive social clubs in the city.
In order to catch the thief, Ang must pretend to be a foreign princess
and infiltrate Elitus. But Ang is far from royal material, so
Willinghouse enlists help from the exacting Madam Nahreem.
Yet Ang has other things on her mind. Refugees are trickling into the
city, fleeing Grappoli-fueled conflicts in the north. A demagogue in
Parliament is proposing extreme measures to get rid of them, and she
soon discovers that one theft could spark a conflagration of conspiracy
that threatens the most vulnerable of Bar-Selehm. Unless she can stop
it.