Running Close to the Wind

By Alexandra Rowland

Book Overview

A queer pirate fantasy standalone adventure by Alexandra Rowland, the author of A Taste of Gold and Iron

"Come for the irrepressible gremlin of a narrator, stay for the plot-relevant cake competitions A whip-smart, hilarious and exuberant high seas romp."--Freya Marske, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Marvellous Light

A LitHub most anticipated book of 2024

Avra Helva i, former field agent of the Araşti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world--and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea.

To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Ḥaffār. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit. The only things in their way? A calculating new Araşti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who's got his eyes on Avra's every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom.

But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they'll all be as wealthy as kings--and, more important, they'll be legends.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250802547
• ISBN13: 9781250802545
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.3" x 8.1"