Life of a slave.
The narrator is known by a number of different names Pusus, Mouse, Antinous but my favourite Little one is what he is called by Euterpe one of the two women who look after him.
Pusus arrives at the Whorehouse to live with the wolves, his care is divided between Euterpe who is kind and loving and the cook Focaria who is rough with him.
The story is about the childhood of this boy, he learns that he is just a chattel to be used for work and later prostitution. The first time he goes outdoors he is amazed to see life going on in the town, when he is given some responsibility for shopping and fetching water he encounters prejudice and cruelty. He is raped by Audo the man who runs the whorehouse so he can be put to work, we do not know what age he is, but he is very young.
Euterpe tries to protect him and teach him about the world through stories. Pusus uses his imagination and feels that he is a sparrow so that he can leave his body.
The slaves plan to work to their advantage and save enough to buy their freedom.
The book ends quickly after a series of betrayals and heartbreaks, I would have liked more details at the end.
Sensitively and beautifully written.
Thank you James and NetGalley

A endearing and easy to read novel that will stay with you. A gréât historical fiction novel based at the end of the Roman Empire. Fully recommend

Walk in the streets of Italy hundreds of years ago this book transports back through centuries to tavernas wolves and slaves. If you've ever been to italy or study history this book delights the senses. The richness of the characters and tale is amazing altogether very enjoyable.

Writing at the end of his life, Jacob tells his story. How he was brought up from infancy in a brothel in a small city in Spain. His friends slaves and prostitutes, not even having a name of his own. On being told a tale about birds he empathises with the sparrow and, when he himself is forced to become a prostitute, he envisages himself as the bird, flying away from his troubles.
This is such a sad and wonderful book. The character of Jacob / Antiochus is written so sensitively that the reader really feels how he is forced to grow up and how hard his life is. I found the story moving and I want to know more about how it develops!

A captivating story told from the perspective of a Roman slave boy. The story was well written; scenes were described vividly and researched beautifully.
The author has a wonderful way of writing and this book is recommended for anyone who has an interest in Ancient Rome.
My only gripe is the story I felt ended rather abruptly.
I sincerely hope the author will write a follow up to this book

A deep portrayal of a grim life in ancient Spain in Roman times. A no holds barred account. It is the story of a young boy raised by the prostitutes in a brothel and his passage through life

This novel has you gripped from the very beginning. It takes you on a journey which will cover every emotion of pain, shock, sadness, joy and injustice. The shocking subject of sex work and slavery is told through the eyes of a young boy called Sparrow. The author has managed to cover the subject so sensitively but without losing the real story of the subject.

This novel has a similar feel to many of the recent retellings of stories from mythology, but is an entirely imagined first-person account of the childhood of a Roman slave boy in Carthago Nova in Hispania (Carthagena in Spain). He has been brought up from infancy in a brothel and is called many names, but Sparrow is what he calls himself. There are two mother figures in his life – Focaria, the cook, and Euterpe, one of the sex workers – and they show him a certain amount of tenderness, perhaps as much as they are able given their own circumstances, but it is a brutal existence, sometimes violently so. James Hynes certainly doesn’t shy away from reflecting that and indeed the layered details of his descriptions make it seem as though it’s a very authentic portrait of the city and the times. Overall, I would describe this as a meditation on slavery, survival and love, but it’s primarily a beautifully written story, which I found gripping and utterly compulsive.

Rich in context and detail this historical novel is moving and gripping. The sense of time and place of a Spanish town in Roman times was completely immersive and described beautifully. The story of the life of Sparrow, the boy the story centres around is shocking, moving and thrilling. The discussion surrounding slavery, freedom and sex work is really intelligent and sensitive. I enjoyed this book and this is a must for anyone who has read The Wolf Den and enjoyed it. This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"He will die alone at some undetermined time in the future, out of the sight of history."

Sparrow is beautifully written and deeply devastating. It follows the story of a young boy (Sparrow) as he looks back on his life and his beginnings in a taberna srounded by 'wolves'. It explores the brutality of the Roman empire and it's slavery through the eyes of a child that doesn't know their own history. It retells the experience from those who are often forgotten from history. The setting of Carthago Nova really comes to life through Sparrow's experiences and interactions with the world around him. The characters in this are wonderfully done from the furious cook Focaria to the ever looming terrifying presence of Audo the wolves pimp. The trajectory of the plot is almost inevitable but the story is still so rich and rewarding. I would highly recommend this to people who want to dive into the often hidden parts of Roman history, that has meaningful characters, an immersive setting and devastating consequences.

This was great, excellent story telling of a slave Boy. The story intrigued me throughout, it was very sad and the characters portrayed just pulled me in even more.
I love historical fiction but this was something special - Recommend to anyone!

A young slave boy is raised in a brothel in Carthago Nova at the edge of the dying Roman Empire. With no parents and no home, he creates his own story, becoming known as Sparrow, as he learns to survive the harsh realities of life as a slave and understand the brutal fate awaiting him as he grows older.

Beautifully written, Hynes is a masterful storyteller as he plucks at the reader's heart strings in this imaginative, yet stark and heartbreaking tale of love, hope and humanity.

A deeply haunting read, I did find it incredibly graphic at moments and disturbing, however this emphasised the sheer levels of inhumanity and lack of morality that could be found during this period of time.

Vivid and historically engaging, it is clear that Hynes has gone to such painstaking lengths in order to make this book feel as accurate as possible when reconstructing the world of Carthago Nova which is built up magnificently and truly transports the reader to that time shining a light on the hidden voices, faces and places that have often been neglected in the past.

A beautiful, yet brutal novel, I am glad I read Sparrow, but I would recommend readers looking at trigger points due to the graphic nature at stages.

Sparrow does not remember where he came from, all he knows is the world he is living in now, and that is the world of a slave in Carthago Nova. Slowly his world expands, from the kitchen where the cook has to keep an eye on him, to the garden where one of the “wolves” from the upstairs brothel tells him stories. As he grows larger he ventures outside their building and goes out with the cook as she buys supplies and collects the laundry, until he is big enough to run the errands by himself. And when he is old enough, perhaps nine or ten, he joins the other wolves in their work.
Sparrow’s life is not just circumscribed by walls, there is the punishment from the cook and harder blows from the bodyguard of the wolves. There are the customers, who do not see a young child but a compliant body to relieve their hunger. He cannot read or write and is taught no skills that would give him an independent trade, so it seems his life will always be limited to what he can earn with his body.
Until there comes a time when there is the chance of freedom, and since the story is told by an old man who can read and write and lives alone in the province of Britain, we can assume he managed to get away.
Although the narrator is an old man, the descriptions are very much from the viewpoint of a child. As I’ve mentioned he is constrained by physical and mental boundaries. Something that is also strongly conveyed is the uncertainty of a slave’s live. Sparrow may never know where he came from, the people who surround him may disappear, perhaps sold on the slave block, and he will never know what happened to them. He can try to appease the people around him but his future relies on his master’s impulses, a man who he only knows by his name. We never know the full story of how Sparrow came from Spain to Britain; like many parts of his life it is hidden.
Sparrow endures so much pain and cruelty that it becomes normal to him and it is for the reader to remember that it is all happening to a child. The careless brutality is a part of all the slaves’ lives and lingers even with those that are freed. After he is raped for the first time Sparrow still has to take the soiled linens to Nazarius, the freedman who owns the laundry. A man who has been indifferent to the young boy up to now shows an unexpected kindness and understanding:
Through the traffic passing in the street, we both gaze across the way at his son among the other bored students, his head nodding, his mouth agape. Nazarius squeezes my shoulder, and I want to tear myself away before he speaks, before he tells me one more time about his son, the scholar, the future aedile. But instead Nazarius says, “He’ll never know what we know.”

This book drew a very authentic picture of slavery, even as I admit I cannot really understand it from a modern viewpoint. It was a powerful, graphic story with characters who were not always sympathetic but whose choices were understandable.


I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley

Sparrow, when we first meet him, is a young slave boy growing up in a brothel. Sparrow is one of many names he goes by, but he associates best with his bird name.

Well researched, it was easy to slip into and absorb life as experienced in the days of the Roman Empire. The story is set in a brothel and the author doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to describing life within its four walls. However, this occasionally graphic vision to me felt essential in order to give an authentic interpretation of how life was experienced for both Sparrow and the women he lived among. At times there were distressing, scenes but I continued the read, determined to finish the book.

Beautifully written, the story is slow paced, but nevertheless a rich and powerful read. A complete departure from my usual book choices, James Hynes is certainly an author I will return to in the future.

My thanks to Netgalley, Picador and James Hynes for an ARC of Sparrow in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written book. Impeccable world and character building, and the amount of research that clearly went into this is staggering. Loved it.

Sparrow is a book set in the Roman port town of Carthago Nova at the end of empire as pagan beliefs give way to new Christianity. The sparrow of the title is a boy living in a brothel with the "wolves", sex workers all named by their owner after the Muses, and the violent custodian Audo. There's quite a bit of violence in this book, including graphic sexual violence, so be warned if you're sensitive to that. A very atmospheric and engaging novel - I desperately want to find out what happens after the end of the book which is always a good sign.

Recommended for lovers of historical fiction, particularly if you liked The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper.

This was a tough book for me and I don't mean that it was a chore to read due to the writing. I am really talking on a emotional level. It pulls no punches in its hard hitting portrayal of Sparrow who, when we first meet him, is a young slave boy growing up in a brothel. I say Sparrow, he is known by many names but I will use the one the book is titled with.
Set in the Roman Empire it soon becomes evident that the author has done their research as I was soon fully immersed in the time and place. The sights and smells enveloped me and added to my overall experience. Se in a brothel initially you would be correct in the occasional graphic nature of the book but it is included not for cheap thrills, but for context and narrative progression.
It's atmospheric, as already mentioned, but it is not overly wordy like some litfic can be. Instead every word is included for some reason. Be it character description/development, scene setting, or story, every word really does count. But that said, it is quite slow paced but then I think it has to be for the story being told is emotional and it does deserve the reader's full attention.
And Sparrow himself. His journey. Oh my days. Another character I want to swoop in and rescue. Another one I have to endure the heartache. Well worth the time and effort I made to "get into" the book. Which was a bit tough as I do admit to having started and stopped a couple of times until, I guess, the time was right for me and I was in the right frame of mind. Stick with it, get past the first 20% and you'll be flying all the way to the end.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

A great story, a slave boy in the Roman age and his world. A tragic fate that involves his world and the women around him.
A well plotted and intriguing story, excellent storytelling and vivid historical fiction.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I really enjoyed this story and the voice of the boy calling himself Sparrow (amongst a host of names from others he’s given along the way). The author’s done a ton of research and woven it all into this story of a lad raised in a brothel during the time of the (declining) Roman Empire, in Nova Carthago in Spain. The relationships Sparrow has with the cook and the wolves (prostitutes) who raise him - and their brutal pimp overseer and the slave owners - are well evoked and evolve as the boy grows older. I especially liked his surrogate mother Euterpe and the way she tries to help and protect him despite the risks to herself. There is love but always also violence and death in their lives over which they have no control. Whilst the themes of this book are often dark & sometimes sordid it didn’t feel depressing as the writing is expressive and immerses you in the sights, sounds and smells of another era quite vividly, and the loving relationships save it from being morbid. My main criticism would be the that the ending was quite abrupt and I felt there wasn’t much explanation of how he got from the end of his story to where he was when he wrote it all down. But I don’t want to give any spoilers so I’ll leave it at that. All in all, although it’s not perfect I did like this story and what it taught me about the lives of Roman slaves and attitudes to prostitution & homosexuality in those times. Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for letting me read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Picador have high hopes for this novel which has been appearing on 2023 anticipated read lists from before the New Year. I knew nothing about book nor author before reading it. I wasn’t surprised on completing it to find out this is the work of a very established American writer and his sixth novel, his first being published some 33 years ago (“The Wild Colonial Boy” which has a Northern Ireland terrorism theme). Nor was I surprised that the has been making a living teaching creative writing courses at American universities and getting qualifications from the highly influential Iowa Writer’s Workshop as this is a technical masterclass of a novel which shows a gifted writer demonstrating much experience and talent. I also discovered, on completion, that a few years ago I’d purchased from The Great Courses a DVD course on “Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques” and the tutor is James Hynes. To be honest, I’ve never actually got round to starting that but am far more motivated to do so now I have read what could be the book to bring this writer considerable international success.
“Sparrow” is the story of a slave in Ancient Rome who as a small child finds himself living amongst a group of prostitutes (“wolves”), who live and work in a tavern. It took me a little while to get into the story but that’s because the author is busy employing his tips and techniques to draw you in. Very little background is needed as we are reading a first-person narrative from the boy written as an old man looking back. He doesn’t know his own background but works from one of his first memories which is a violent altercation between an unknown man and the woman who resentfully feeds him. He is “Pusus”, which just means "boy" and the woman, another slave, referred to as “Focaria” – cook. He has no other identity and a virtually non-existent outlook on his world. Through Focaria and one of the prostitutes, known as “Euterpe” his ignorance is slowly diminished and over time his very small part of the world begins to extend a few hundred yards from the tavern.
One of the ways in which this is achieved is by the author’s multi-sensory approach and description of sights, smells, taste and the feel of the environment which allows the boy to make sense of his world and has the added bonus for us as readers in creating a very strong fictional depiction. We all know how valuable a technique this can be and here it is employed superbly. Books set in Ancient Times can be a little off-putting for some as it feels so alien and often too much information is needed to be taken on board but here as we are working through the child’s narrative we only know what we need to and his questioning of his experiences allows us to access his world. I’m not saying that this is not superbly researched but it is so seamlessly integrated and never over-complicated which also brings the reader right into the text.
Of course, all these technical skills would be pointless if the story did not involve. Time is taken with plot, strong characters are established and we see things like the boy coping with the social dynamics of getting water from the public fountain at some length before realising that a rich, gripping plot has developed which builds beautifully.
I was very impressed by this work, there are characters I will remember for a long time. The characterisation of the narrator feels as potent as “Shuggie Bain” or “Young Mungo”, two of the most vital literary depictions of male youth in recent years. It never shirks from the horrors facing these people (it’s never totally clear how old the boy is, at one point he says he thinks he is ten, which completely floored me, given the ways he has to survive). You can take these characters out of their Ancient Times setting and place them anytime in history and, shockingly, their ordeals and issues would still be relevant, a sobering realisation.
Despite the darkness of the subject matter the book does have an uplift and there is an overriding sense of hope. The boy uses a sparrow as a metaphor for escape and can visualise out-of-body experiences when things get too grim, another technique that lifts any sense of gloom and like this metaphorical sparrow this book really flies.
“Sparrow” is published by Picador on May 4th 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.