Sparrow, James Hynes
Sparrow, James Hynes
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Sparrow

Author: James Hynes

Narrator: Theo Solomon

Unabridged: 17 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/08/2023

Synopsis

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. 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. Through meticulous research and bold imagination, James Hynes brings the entirety of a Roman city to vivid life, recreating old Pagan Rome as its codes and morals give way before the new religion of Christianity, and introduces listeners to one of the most powerfully affecting and memorable characters of recent fiction. Sparrow is an enthralling, heartbreaking novel of identity, endurance, and love in a dangerous and changing time.

About James Hynes

James Hynes is the author of Next, The Lecturer’s Tale, and Publish and Perish. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Review, Mother Jones, and Salon. He attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has taught fiction writing at the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, Miami University, Grinnell College, and the University of Texas. He lives in Austin, Texas.

About Theo Solomon

Theo Solomon is an Earphones award-winning narrator who has worked extensively on stage, on screen, and behind the mic. He has performed across London and Nottingham, and his television work includes roles on Temple and Enterprice.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sarah on April 24, 2023

Disclaimer - if you are easily shocked or offended this book isn't for you! However if you want a thought provoking and authentic feeling story following a slave in the Roman empire then this is going to drag you into that world and show you it's dark underbelly. Set in a brothel we follow a slave bo......more

Goodreads review by frau.gedankenreich on November 09, 2023

~ 2,5* Setting und Schreibstil mochte ich, aber inhaltlich fand ich es eher schwach. Irgendwie bin ich auch mit einer ganz anderen Erwartungshaltung an das Buch herangegangen und habe nicht wirklich verstanden, was der Autor mir mit der Geschichte eigentlich sagen will. Sehr schade.......more

Goodreads review by Ellery on December 28, 2023

3.5 stars. For fans of The Wolf Den, Sparrow is an unflinchingly honest telling of the life of slaves forced to work as prostitutes in Ancient Rome. Unlike Elodie Harper’s trilogy, Sparrow features a young boy who starts off as a kitchen slave but is eventually required to become a male “wolf.” The nov......more

Goodreads review by Hani on July 09, 2023

Very slow, painstakingly detailed and graphically violent, you know more than you care to know about life as a slave in a brothel in Spain in the waning days of the Roman empire, as it transitioned to Christianity. Written as a memoir later in life by the child protagonist, the 475 pages cover only......more

Goodreads review by Emma on July 07, 2023

A grittier darker story than The Wolf Den by Eloise Harper. I felt slightly removed from the main character and the story moved at a very slow pace, but was convincingly detailed. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.......more

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