Peacock

Older and more observant, Sparrow has left the confined world of the Helicon and now belongs to a new master at Arcadia. The estate appears more ordered and prosperous than the brothel in which he was raised, but its household is governed by competing ambitions, concealed resentments and the political risks taken by its owner. Sparrow draws on the lessons of the wolves—watching, pleasing, deceiving and recognising what other people want—as he tries to secure a place within this larger and more sophisticated structure of dependence.

Information soon becomes Sparrow’s most valuable possession. To protect himself, he gathers secrets and weighs the claims of Romans whose loyalties may expose the entire household to danger, yet every alliance makes him vulnerable to betrayal. His movement towards adulthood brings love, hatred and a growing capacity for manipulation as Christianity reshapes public authority and private conduct. The novel expands the series from domestic captivity into estate and imperial politics while retaining its central question: how much of himself must an enslaved person conceal or reinvent in order to survive?