'Superbly told' The Times 'Richly imagined' Sunday Times 'An engrossing seamlessly written
deliberation on the enduring power of art' Mail on Sunday Assyria in the reign of
Ashurbanipal. For Aurya and Sharo every day is a struggle for survival. One evening
everything changes. Soon they are on the barge of King Ashurbanipal bound for the city of
Nineveh. Their fates become inextricably bound to that of the king - and the injured lion
captured by his men. Twenty-six centuries later British-Iraqi archaeologist Katya joins a dig
in Mosul to protect the ancient ruins of Nineveh from looters. But the real world crashes in to
their studious idyll when ISIL storm Mosul - and take Katya Salim and local girl Lola hostage.
'Dual timeline novels often fail: one strand is more interesting than the other or the links
between the two are contrived. Not here. Both stories are superbly told and share the same
preoccupation - the coexistence of cruelty and creative beauty' The Times Historical Novel of
the Month
