Vintage, 6th August 2020

Pb, 512 pp

You are invited to join Zachary on the starless sea: the home of storytellers, story-lovers and those who will protect our stories at all costs. Discover the enchanting, magical new bestseller from the author of The Night CircusWhen Zachary Rawlins stumbles across a strange book hidden in his university library it leads him on a quest unlike any other. Its pages entrance him with their tales of lovelorn prisoners, lost cities and nameless acolytes, but they also contain something impossible: a recollection from his own childhood.

Determined to solve the puzzle of the book, Zachary follows the clues he finds on the cover - a bee, a key and a sword. They guide him to a masquerade ball, to a dangerous secret club, and finally through a magical doorway created by the fierce and mysterious Mirabel. This door leads to a subterranean labyrinth filled with stories, hidden far beneath the surface of the earth.

When the labyrinth is threatened, Zachary must race with Mirabel, and Dorian, a handsome barefoot man with shifting alliances, through its twisting tunnels and crowded ballrooms, searching for the end of his story. PRAISE FOR THE STARLESS SEA'Enchanting read... an ode to stories and storytelling itself, and the joy of reading' Guardian'Spellbinding' Daily Mirror'A magical mix of quests and fables...beautifully written' Heat