Running Close to the Wind

Format: Hardcover Language: English ISBN: 1250802539 ISBN13: 9781250802538 Release Date: June 2024 Publisher: Tordotcom Length: 448 Pages Weight: 1.07 lbs. Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.7" x 8.4" A queer pirate fantasy standalone adventure by Alexandra Rowland, the author of A Taste of Gold and Iron "Come for the irrepressible gremlin of a narrator, stay for the plot-relevant cake competitions A whip-smart, hilarious and exuberant high seas romp."--Freya Marske, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Marvellous Light A LitHub most anticipated book of 2024 Avra Helva i, former field agent of the Araşti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world--and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea. To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Araşti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who's got his eyes on Avra's every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom. But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they'll all be as wealthy as kings--and, more important, they'll be legends.