Lady Hotspur Tessa Gratton 9780008281977

Tessa Gratton's latest epic adult fantasy, Lady Hotspur, is a sweeping, heart-stopping Shakespearean novel of betrayal and battlefields and destiny.

STRIKE FAST, LOVE HARD, LIVE FOREVER

This is the motto of the Lady Knights - sworn to fealty under a struggling kingdom, promised to defend the prospective heir, Banna Mora.

But when a fearsome rebellion overthrows the throne, Mora is faced with an agonizing choice: give up everything she's been raised to love, and allow a king-killer to be rewarded - or retake the throne, and take up arms against the newest heir, Hal Bolingbrooke, Mora's own childhood best friend and sworn head of the Lady Knights.

Hal loathes being a Prince; she's much more comfortable instated on the Throne of Misrule, a racous underground nether-court where passion rules all. She yearns to live up to the wishes of everyone she loves best - but that means sacrificing her own heart, and so she will disappoint everyone until the moment she can rise to prove those expectations wrong.

And between these two fierce Princes is the woman who will decide all their fates - Lady Isarna Hotspur, the fiery and bold knight whose support will turn the tides of the coming war.

Tessa Gratton has wanted to be a paleontologist or a wizard since she was seven. Alas, she turned out too impatient to hunt dinosaurs, but is still searching for a someone to teach her magic. After traveling the world with her military family, she acquired a BA (and the important parts of an MA) in Gender Studies, then settled down in Kansas with her partner, her cats, and her mutant dog. She now spends her days staring at the sky and telling lots of stories about magic.

'Tessa Gratton creates a beautiful world, one where there's magic in the trees and water, and prophecies come from the stars ... reminiscent of Angela Carter's reworkings of classic fairytales'
SFX

'Powerful, poetic fantasy that will take hold of your heart'
Ed McDonald, author of BLACKWING

'I adore this - rich, epic, blood-soaked - a glorious and grand sweeping fantasy'
Kate Elliott, author of THE POISONED BLADE

'A gloriously symphonic, thematically rich variation on the story of the daughters of Lear. The danger of seeking certainty makes this a tale for our time; the power of truth and mercy makes it a tale for all times. Prepare to devour every word, for Innis Lear will consume you'
Karen Lord, author of REDEMPTION IN INDIGO

'Messy, beautiful, and dark, darker than Shakespeare could have dreamed'
E. K. Johnston, author of STAR WARS: AHSOKA