With her husband Devereaux Rousseau now a captain commanding Savannah's elite Oglethorpe Light Infantry on the Civil War battlefields of Virginia, Carolyn Calhoun Rousseau must prove her own backbone as she operates the family's last functioning farm in the hills of Habersham County. She draws on the support of her best friend, Mahala Franklin, half-Cherokee granddaughter of a local inn owner. Mahala battles her own frustrations with Jack Randall, rival hotel owner and coastal shipping magnate. Jack's continued reluctance to commit threatens to drive Mahala into the arms of her Cherokee childhood sweet-heart, Clay Fraser. Then, tragedy brings Mahala and Carolyn to Savannah just as Sherman advances on the city -- and forces everyone to confront their true feelings. Will Jack abandon his ship and its profits to the Yankees in Wilmington Harbor in order to guide them on a perilous wagon journey across Georgia, or will he abandon the woman he claims to love, but whom he now knows also has feelings for another? And even if Mahala reaches safety, could her discovery about her father's long-ago murder and missing gold prove far more dangerous than the war?

From the acclaimed author of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns comes a fantastical new tale of darkness and love, in which magical bonds are stronger than blood. Will love break the spell? After cruelly rejecting Bao, the poor physician's apprentice who loves her, Lan, a wealthy nobleman's daughter, regrets her actions. So when she finds Bao's prized flute floating in his boat near her house, she takes it into her care, not knowing that his soul has been trapped inside it by an evil witch, who cursed Bao, telling him that only love will set him free. Though Bao now despises her, Lan vows to make amends and help break the spell. Together, the two travel across the continent, finding themselves in the presence of greatness in the forms of the Great Forest's Empress Jade and Commander Wei. They journey with Wei, getting tangled in the webs of war, blood magic, and romance along the way. Will Lan and Bao begin to break the spell that's been placed upon them? Or will they be doomed to live out their lives with black magic running through their veins? In this fantastical tale of darkness and love, some magical bonds are stronger than blood.

'The vibrant new voice of historical fiction' Suzannah Dunn THE PAINTED CHAMBER is a lyrical tale of love and longing, and HOW TO ROAST A PIG WITH THE HAIR ON, winner of the Jerwood Historical Short Story Competition 2012, a darkly vivid story of wifely revenge. Also included is an exclusive sample from Katherine Clements' highly acclaimed debut THE CRIMSON RIBBON.