Sarah Underwood 'Gentlest of Wild Things' with Samantha Shannon

Gentlest of Wild Things

On the island of Zakynthos, nothing is more powerful than Desire-love itself, bottled and sold to the highest bidder by Leandros, a power-hungry descendent of the god Eros.

Eirene and her beloved twin sister, Phoebe, have always managed to escape Desire's thrall. Until Leandros' wife dies mysteriously and he sets his sights on Phoebe. Determined to keep her sister safe, Eirene strikes a bargain with Leandros: if she can complete the four elaborate tasks he sets her, he will find another bride. But it soon becomes clear that the tasks are part of something bigger; something related to Desire and Lamia, the strange, neglected daughter Leandros keeps locked away.

Lamia knows her father hides her for her own protection, though as she and Eirene grow closer, she finds herself longing for the outside world. But the price of freedom is high, and with something deadly-something hungry-stalking the night, that price must be paid in blood . . .

Sarah Underwood

Sarah Underwood grew up by the sea in Devon. A data scientist by training, she is a graduate of Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge and is now studying for her PhD at the University of Oxford. Sarah has been writing as long as she can remember and has always been drawn to stories of myth and magic. Her debut novel, Lies We Sing to the Sea, was an instant New York Times, indie, and international bestseller.

Samantha Shannon

Samantha Shannon is a British author of dystopian and fantasy fiction. Her debut novel, The Bone Season, was published in 2013 and is the first of a seven-book series.

Her first book outside the series, The Priory of the Orange Tree, was a finalist in the Lambda Literary Awards 2020 and has sold over a million copies in English worldwide. Its prequel, A Day of Fallen Night, hit shelves in February 2023, becoming an instant #1 Sunday Times bestseller.

She is currently working on The Dark Mirror, the fifth book in the Bone Season series, which will be published in February 2025.

Host or Publisher Blackwell's, Broad Street Oxford