Sparrow: The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller

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Sparrow recreates a lost world of the last of 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. About This Edition ISBN: When not being told stories by his beloved ‘mother’ Euterpe, he runs errands for her lover the cook, dodging the blows of their brutal overseer or the machinations of the chief wolf, Melpomene.

Dystopian Fiction Books Everyone Should Read: Explore The Darker Side of Possible Worlds and Alternative Futures We know that Pusus has survived, as the story is told from his aged perspective, at a time when he is known as Jacob and is scarred by the wisdom he's gained from the events of his youth. In Jacob's care, Pusus' story opens up the boy's life through the actions of the prostitutes who become his family. Named for muses, each one alternately protects him and gives him the cold facts and survival tips for the horrible world they must endure. As he grows, the boy begins to dream of freedom, of owning himself and building an identity beyond the narrow confines that dictate his life.Still, Sparrow is a novel worth reading. This novel transports the reader to the brutal times of the Roman Empire. It is a novel about endurance, love, and pain. This is a slower-paced but precise character study of a child slave in the Roman Empire. 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. Ultimately, this was a beautifully written character-driven plot, and I look forward to its release next year.

Sparrow is a magnificent tale of a boy enduring the very hardest life and yet, somehow, finding a way to love and to be loved. It is worth noting that, as one might expect, there are extensive scenes depicting the harshness of slavery and sexual abuse. The books themes will not be for everyone and, accordingly, trigger warnings are made. You will walk through lost places, and understand how a slave class made an infamous empire function. As Sparrow grows older, Focaria asks Euterpe, one of the prostitutes, to be responsible for his education. Raising Sparrow together brings opportunities for Focaria and Euterpe to be near each other. Euterpe, who may be Focaria’s lover, becomes Sparrow’s ‘mother’ and teacher. This was not the happiest of books - its incredibly downbeat but there is so much hope and fight, that you just want the characters to get out of the life they are living. You feel like they should, and you feel like they can. Never once do the characters feel sorry for themselves, they are fighters. This makes the sad and dark subject matter easier to read.Sparrow’s only friend is Euterpe, one of the “wolves” (prostitutes). Euterpe tries to educate and care for Sparrow, but in the world of Helicon there is no place for kindness. The fear of death is ever-present and Euterpe has no power against the brothel manager, Audo. Sparrow tells us that “Audo is a hammer and every problem is a nail”.

A hard fate awaits Sparrow, one that involves suffering, murder, mayhem, and the scattering of the women who have been his whole world. When not being told stories by his beloved 'mother' 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. A hard fate awaits Sparrow, one that involves suffering, murder, mayhem, and the scattering of the little community that has been his whole world. Sparrow gravitates to dissociation, seemingly floating in the air and watching himself going through the motions of the sexual acts he endures at the behest of his clients. The concept of the chosen family is also very important as Sparrow and the wolves work together in a hostile and dangerous environment. As the novel moves to its denouement, it seemed to me that this was a book designed more to shed light on our times than on the past. There are very modern ideas at work here to do with identity and family. Several times in the book, Hynes’s characters use concepts and expressions that are unexpected within the world he has created. Euterpe often discusses the philosophy of the Greeks as she talks with Sparrow about the role of slaves in the Empire, and muses on character and individual motivations within a group such as the wolves.Set in a brothel we follow a slave boy as he grows, from kitchen hand, to dogsbody to Wolf. He has no name and instead is known by different things by all those around him, whether that be Pusus/Antiochus/Little One/Mouse/Antinous. Of all his names he most associates with Sparrow. Raised in a brothel at the edge of a dying empire, a boy of no known origin creates his own identity. He is Sparrow, who sings without reason and can fly from trouble. His world is a kitchen, a herb-scented garden, a loud and dangerous tavern, and the mysterious upstairs where the ‘wolves’– prostitutes and slaves from every corner of the empire – conduct their business. This story belongs to one of the most powerfully affecting and memorable characters of recent fiction. Now, my main beef with this book is the characterisation of the women. These women are created with an illusion of depth, and it’s disappointing.

At times, there is a blur between portraying and pornifying scenes. Certain descriptors, interactions and thoughts in these scenes are more reminiscent of a full grown man, rather than a boy. Specifically, in the scene between Melpomene and Sparrow, where she ‘teaches him’ how to be a wolf, the dialogue and physical reactions seem to blur that line, especially lines like “‘Before I answer that,’ she says, laying her warm hand on my thigh, ‘I’m going to do something for you first.’” and “in almost the same place on my body, the silkiest pleasure I've ever felt”. Sparrow is a wonderful novel, but it’s also a visceral and brutal one. The coming of Christianity has brought shame and censure to the lives of the wolves, even though, as Jacob says, “the entire empire is a mosaic of rape and murder and bastardy and forced labour”. Like the very best of novelists engaging with the classical past – Natalie Haynes, Madeline Miller, Mary Renault – Hynes has found a way of making the events of almost 2,000 years ago feel as if they are happening right now, in front of our faces. That’s maybe because, in the sordid, sensual and secretive world he’s writing about, less has changed than we might think.The wolves, in particular, are brilliantly drawn, with their shifting alliances and divisions drawing them together and pulling them apart as events imposed on them crush their will or cement their unity accordingly. 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. Schon vom Setting und dem Stand des Protagonisten wird klar, dass es zu grausamen Szenen kommen wird - diese sind aber stilvoll und in ertragbarem Maße geschildert. Den Großteil der Handlung bildet der Alltag des namenlosen Protagonisten und seine Beziehungen zu den Frauen, unter denen er aufwächst. Für mich waren alle "Wölfinen" interessante Persönlichkeiten, wobei der Fokus auf drei sehr unterschiedlichen Mutterfiguren liegt, die man besonders gut kennenlernt.