"An old woman who spends her days scrubbing the floors might be an unlikely damsel in distress, but Lord Dunsany proves once again his mastery of the fantastical. The Charwoman's Shadow is a beautiful tale of a sorcerer's apprentice who discovers his master's nefarious usage of stolen shadows, and vows to save the charwoman from her slavery."--Publisher's description.

A novel of duty and destiny from the pioneering fantasy author, the “inventor of a new mythology and weaver of surprising folklore” (H. P. Lovecraft). In Spain, Gonsalvo, the Lord of the Tower, is in a bind. His daughter is nearing her fifteenth year and should marry soon, yet she has no dowry. To cure the ills of his impoverished family, Gonsalvo turns to his son, Ramon Alonzo. He tells Ramon Alonzo the story of his grandfather, who is owed a favor by a magician. Now that the family is in dire need of money, Gonsalvo sends Ramon Alonzo to the forests beyond Aragona to meet the sorcerer and learn the secrets of the Black Art, in particular, the act of transmuting base metals into gold. Ramon Alonzo does as he is told. But he is warned by the magician’s charwoman that the wizard’s fees are too high to pay. After gifting her with immortality, the magician took her shadow, making her an outcast among the villagers. Heeding her words yet unwilling to give up on his mission, Ramon Alonzo will have to decide just what he is willing to sacrifice—for money, for his family, and for love . . . “Dunsany’s best stories remain unique: nobody else has ever been able to capture his visions.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, Los Angeles Times Book Review “Perhaps the strongest single influence in the development of fantasy fiction in the present century.” —L. Sprague de Camp “Lord Dunsany is the great grandfather of us all.” —Jane Yolen, winner of the National Book Award, Nebula Award, and World Fantasy Award

In what would be A.D. 600 in our history, the Roman Empire still stands, supported by the Legions and Thaumaturges of Rome. Now the Emperor of the West, the Augustus Galen Atreus, will come to the aid of the Emperor of the East, the Augustus Heraclius, to lift the siege of Constantinople and carry a great war to the very doorstep of the Shahanshah of Persia. It is a war that will be fought with armies both conventional and magical, with bright swords and the darkest necromancy. Against this richly detailed canvas of alternate history and military strategy, Thomas Harlan sets the intricate and moving stories of four people: Woven with rich detail youd expect from a first-rate historical novel, while through it runs yarns of magic and shimmering glamours that carry you deeply into your most fantastic dreams At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.