Running Close to the Wind

<p><b><i>Our Flag Means Death</i> meets <i>Six of Crows</i> in this queer pirate adventure from the author of <i>A Taste of Gold and Iron.</i></b><br><br><b>''Come for the irrepressible gremlin of a narrator, stay for the plot-relevant cake competitions! A whip-smart, hilarious and exuberant high seas romp'' – </b><b>Freya Marske, <i>Sunday Times</i> bestselling author of <i>A Marvellous Light</i> </b><br><br>Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Arashti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world – and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea.<br><br>To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must work with his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haffar. Together, they will have to risk journeying to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls. The only things in their way? A calculating new Arashti ambassador to the Isles; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own; and the fact that they’re sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom.<br><br>But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings – and, more importantly, they’ll be <i>legends . . .</i><br><br><b>''Uproariously funny, exquisitely witty, brimming with buckling of swashes and scuttling of butts'' – Premee Mohamed, Nebula Award-winning author of <i>Beneath the Rising</i> </b></p>