After the uprising in London, Lady Gwendolyn Crichton is settling into her new position as Royal Sorceress and fighting the prejudice against her gender and age that seeks to prevent her from fulfilling her responsibilities. But when a senior magician is murdered in a locked room and Gwen is charged with finding the culprit, her inquiries lead her into a web of intrigue that combines international politics, widespread aristocratic blackmail, gambling dens and personal vendettas...and some of her discoveries hit dangerously close to home. Continuing on from the end of The Royal Sorceress, The...

The British Empire is teetering on the brink of war with France. A war that may, for the first time, see magicians in the ranks on both sides. The Royal Sorceress, Lady Gwendolyn Crichton, will be responsible for the Empire's magical resources when the time comes. Still struggling to overcome prejudice within the Royal College of Sorcerers, she has at least earnt the gratitude of much of the aristocracy, if not their respect. Just when Gwen needs to be firmly focussed on training new sorcerers, her adopted daughter Olivia, the only known living necromancer, is kidnapped. Her abduction...

War has started, South East England has been invaded, and Gwen and the Royal Sorcerers Corps are helping the army to fight off French magicians and drive the invaders back into the Channel. When an inexperienced major disobeys orders, sending two hundred hussars to their deaths, Gwen compels him to sit down and shut up but, in doing so, permanently damages his mind. After the battle, Lord Mycroft suggests that she needs to be less prominent until rumours of what she did to the major have been dispelled. He assigns her a mission to go to New York - the colonies are also under attack from the...

In The Unwritten Words, Christopher Nuttall's story-telling mastery weaves a new epic which follows on from his bestselling Bookworm series and is set in that same world. In The Promised Lie, the first book of the new series, five years have passed since the earth-shattering events of Bookworm IV. The Golden City has fallen. The Grand Sorcerer and Court Wizards are dead. The Empire they ruled is nothing more than a memory, a golden age lost in the civil wars as kings and princes battle for supremacy. And only a handful of trained magicians remain alive. Isabella Majuro, Lady...