The Ninth Rain

Ebora was once a mighty city. Now it is a ruin overrun by wolves, and Tormalin the Oathless, one of its last exiles, refuses to sit and watch his homeland die. He takes a job as bodyguard to Lady Vincenza de Grazon, known as Vintage, a noblewoman who breaks with convention.

Vintage explores the wrecks of the Jure'lia behemoths and recovers the artefacts left inside them. Her work takes the pair to dangerous places, and on the road they meet Noon, a fell-witch who is fleeing the Winnowry. Noon can conjure winnowfire.

The three are soon caught up in a tangled conspiracy of magic and war. The Jure'lia, an invading enemy long thought defeated, are returning, and the Ninth Rain must fall.

This is epic fantasy with an ensemble of three travellers, a ruined homeland and an old war that is not finished. It is the first book of the Winnowing Flame trilogy, first published by Headline in 2017, and it won the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2018.