Foundling

Monsters, rogues and wonder abound in this utterly original, fearsomely exciting and beautifully detailed fantasy tale of an orphaned boy's journey to seek his destiny.

In the city of Boschenberg stands Madame Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. Within its walls lives an orphan named Rossamund. A young boy with a girl's name. He is about to embark on a journey that will change his life forever. Rossamund has always dreamed of a career in the Navy, fighting tentacled monsters and rescuing damsels from hook-handed pirates. But fate has chosen him for a different path. He is being sent to train as a Lamplighter - to bring light to the inland roads of the Half-Continent, to shine the way for travellers through lands peopled by outcasts, monsters and worse.

But for Rossamund to begin his education, he must first undertake a journey of his own: to the great city of High Vesting. Such a road is not for the faint of heart. Only monster-hunters, leers and the most desperate of brigands dare travel the inland ways unguarded. And all Rossamund carries with him is a battered almanac and a pocketful of cheap potions. It is unlikely to be enough.

Stunning in scope and rich in detail, alive with memorable heroes and villains and brimming with new and original science and magics, D.M. Cornish's tale of scolds, scourges, smugglers and shrewds will thrill and captivate, and leave the reader desperate for more.