Renaissance Venice. Beneath glittering palazzos and winding canals, the all-knowing Council of Ten rules with an unseen hand. Madalena de Luna has spent twenty years as one of their weapons. Some trade in coin. She deals in secrets. Raised by a woman as feared as she is loved, Madalena has buried a secret of her own: she has never stopped searching for the life she lost before she was pulled from the sea as a child. And when she discovers the key to her past lies in the hands of the Reapers, the very organisation she is tasked to destroy, her loyalty to her adopted protector, and the Council, begins to fracture. Forced into an uneasy alliance with her enemies, Madalena is drawn into a web of conspiracies, buried family secrets, and murder. When she stumbles upon a betrayal that threatens to tear Venice apart, she must decide whether to remain the Council's pawn or risk everything to learn the truth. Praise for The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye . . . 'Packed full of action, excitement, peril and romance on the high seas, this is the sapphic pirate book of my dreams' SARAH UNDERWOOD, author of Lies We Sing to the Sea'Thrilling, heart-pounding adventure meets thoughtful feminist history . . . a rare and special tale' VAISHNAVI PATEL, author of Kaikeyi'I flew through the pages as if my ability to breath depended on it . . . This book has stolen my heart!' THE DEBUT DIGEST
