No one looks kindly on the killer of a king.
After unwittingly helping her mother poison King Louis XIV, seventeen-year-old alchemist Mirabelle Monvoisin is forced to see her mother’s Shadow Society in a horrifying new light: they’re not heroes of the people, as they’ve always claimed to be, but murderers. She herself included. Mira tries to ease her guilt by brewing helpful curatives, but her hunger tonics and headache remedies cannot right past wrongs or save the dissenters whom her mother vows to purge.
Royal bastard Josse de Bourbon is more kitchen boy than fils de France. But when the Shadow Society assassinates the Sun King and half of the royal court, he must become the prince he was never meant to be in order to save his injured sisters and the petulant dauphin. Forced to hide in the sewers beneath the city, Josse’s hope of reclaiming Paris seems impossible―until his path collides with Mirabelle’s.
She’s a deadly poisoner. He’s a bastard prince. They are sworn enemies, yet they form a tenuous pact to unite the commoners and former nobility against the Shadow Society. But can a rebellion built on mistrust ever hope to succeed?
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“Accomplished narrators Emily Woo Zeller and Tim Campbell impressively narrate Addie Thorley’s debut historical fantasy…As Mira and Josse join forces, the dual narration brims with the intensity of the riveting plot. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
"This debut novelist manages to set the tone, introduce the characters, and kill the King of France all in the first chapter… [a] fast-paced and refreshing page-turner.”
— School Library Journal (starred review)“An indulgent and exhilarating adventure.”
— Lyndsay Ely, author of Gunslinger Girl“A rich immersion into a dangerous, alternative world of seventeenth century France…Thrilling, romantic, and addictive.”
— Rosalyn Eaves, author of the Blood Rose Rebellion trilogy“A stunning, immersive adventure, filled with magic, self-discovery and sumptuous period detail.”
— Lee Kelly, author of A Criminal MagicBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Addie Thorley spent her childhood in the wilds of Utah, playing soccer, riding horses, and scribbling stories. After graduating from the University of Utah with a degree in journalism, she decided “hard news” didn’t contain enough magic and kissing, so she flung herself into the land of fiction and never looked back. She now lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with her husband, daughter, and wolf dog.
Emily Woo Zeller is an artist, actor, dancer, choreographer, and voice artist who has won Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration in 2018. She began her voice-over career by voicing animation in Asia. AudioFile magazine named her one of the Best Voices of 2013 for her work in Gulp. Other awards include the 2009 Tristen Award for Best Actress as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and the 2006 Roselyn E. Schneider Prize for Creative Achievement.
Tim Campbell, winner of AudioFile Earphones Awards, is a narrator and actor based in Los Angeles, California. He studied at the University of California and earned a BA in music and theater and a certification from the prestigious Great Books program at Pepperdine University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He is also a classically trained singer and performs regularly with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Los Angeles Opera Chorus, as well as on studio soundtracks for film and television.