From Sunday Times bestselling author Gareth Rubin comes a dazzling puzzle-box mystery in which one man's past is written in blood - but his future is still unwritten. 1804, Isle of Ray, Essex. Lysander Rose has spent his life searching for the truth about his mother, who was abducted when he was just a baby. When the men who took her return for him, Lysander is forced to flee the only home he has ever known. His escape leads him to a strange and dangerous clue: a lurid penny-blood chapbook that appears to contain the story of his own origins. As Lysander follows its trail from the Essex coast to the shadowed streets of Edinburgh, he is drawn into the orbit of a secretive organisation known only as the Circle. Soon he is entangled in a world of murder, blackmail and political intrigue. At its heart lies an exiled king - and a conspiracy that could shape the fate of nations. But if Lysander's past has already been written, can he still choose how his story ends?Perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz, Stuart Turton and C. J. Sansom.