A prequel novella. Originally published in the anthology The Underwater Ballroom Society.
In the world of the Harwood Spellbook, 19th-century Angland is ruled by a powerful group of women known as the Boudiccate - but in order to become a member of that group, a lady must be not only a ruthless politician but also the wife of a gentleman mage.
Amy Standish is a born politician, and she's spent all her life training for the moment when she will finally step into the political arena with a rising mage as her match... which makes it entirely unfortunate that, just as all of her careful plans are coming together, she is faced with the hopelessly impractical and irresistible prospect of Jonathan Harwood - a man who will never, ever be a mage.
Now, on the night of the Harwoods' Spring Solstice Ball, in an underwater ballroom full of sparkling fey lights and danger, Amy will have to fight the greatest political battle of her life to win a family and a future that she could never have imagined... and it will take an entirely unexpected kind of magic to keep everything from crashing down around her.
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Stephanie Burgis
Stephanie Burgis was born in Michigan, but now lives in Wales with her husband, writer Patrick Samphire, and their children. Before becoming a fulltime writer, she studied music history as a Fulbright Scholar in Vienna, Austria, and worked as a website editor for a British opera company. She has published over thirty short stories for adults. Kat, Incorrigible (US)/A Most Improper Magick (UK) won the Waverton Good Read Children’s Award in 2011 for Best Début Children’s Novel by a British writer. It was followed by Renegade Magic/A Tangle of Magicks and Stolen Magic/A Reckless Magick.
Photo by Patrick Saphire.
