A Stranger in Olondria

Time Magazine: 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time · World Fantasy, British Fantasy, & Crawford Award winner Jevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories ofOlondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare inhis home. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearlyselling trip to Olondria, Jevick's life is as close to perfect as he canimagine. But just as he revels in Olondria's Rabelaisian Feast ofBirds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by theghost of an illiterate young girl. In desperation, Jevick seeksthe aid of Olondrian priests and quickly becomes a pawn in the strugglebetween the empire's two most powerful cults. Yet even as the countryshimmers on the cusp of war, he must face his ghost and learn her storybefore he has any chance of becoming free by setting her free: anordeal that challenges his understanding of art and life, home andexile, and the limits of that seductive necromancy, reading. A Stranger in Olondriais a skillful and immersive debut fantasy novel that pulls the readerin deeper and deeper with twists and turns reminiscent of George R. R.Martin and Joe Hill.