Told from the perspective of an enslaved boy being raised in a Roman
brothel, a stunning literary historical novel of identity, family,
suffering, and freedom
In a brothel on the Spanish coast during the waning years of the Roman
Empire, a young enslaved boy of unknown parentage is growing up. His
world is a kitchen, then an herb-scented garden, followed by a loud and
dangerous tavern, and finally, the mysterious upstairs where the
"wolves" do their business.
The wolves, named after the muses and coming from across the vast
empire, are Sparrow's surrogate family. They are his mothers and his
sisters, his guides in a rough life, his solace from it. When he is not
being told stories by his beloved Euterpe, he runs errands for her
lover, the cook, while trying to avoid the blows of their brutal
overseer or the machinations of the chief wolf, Melpomene. But a hard
fate awaits Sparrow, one that involves suffering, murder, mayhem, and
the scattering of the little community that has been his whole world.
Through meticulous research and bold imagination, James Hynes brings the
entirety of a Roman city to vivid life, recreating old Pagan Rome as its
codes and morals give way before the new religion of Christianity, and
introduces readers to one of the most powerfully affecting and memorable
characters of recent fiction. Sparrow is an enthralling, heartbreaking
novel of identity, endurance, and love in a dangerous and changing time.
