Release date: 13th September 2012
Published by: Two Roads
ISBN No: 978 1444742695
In 18th century Stockholm, as the winds of revolution rage through the great
capitals of Europe, the key to a nation's fate rests in the hands of an unlikely
hero. Emil Larsson is a drinker, card player and contented bachelor until he is
told that his position at the Office of Excise and Customs depends on his
settling down and finding a wife. Mrs Sparrow, proprietor of an exclusive gaming
house, fortune teller (and confidante of King Gustav III) offers to lay an
Octavo for him - a form of cartomancy which can divine his future if he can find
the eight individuals who can help him realise his vision. When Mrs Sparrow wins
a mysterious fan in her card game, the Octavo's deeper powers are revealed. No
longer just a game of the heart, collecting his Eight is now crucial to pulling
his country back from the brink of rebellion and chaos. A debut novel full of
opulent period detail, brilliantly interweaving history, romance and intrigue,
in which one man's fortune holds the key to a nation's precarious fate.
Copyright: The Book Depository Synopsis