From the New York Times-bestselling author of A Crane Among Wolves comes a warm and romantic homage to Jane Austen set in historical Korea, about a reader and a writer who secretly fight against government book banning and find themselves irresistibly drawn together.

As the dutiful second daughter of a poor family, Haewon is expected to marry well. Instead, amid harsh censorship and rampant book bans, she secretly works as an illegal book transcriber - dangerous work she loves, especially when copying the writings of her favourite author, the elusive Black Lotus.

When her older sister begins courting a wealthy young man, Haewon is dragged along as chaperone - forced to endure the company of his arrogant, insufferable best friend.

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As the only son of a noble, Seojun is expected to embody wealth, status, and propriety. No one can know that he secretly writes fiction - or that the only thing keeping him going under pressure from his overbearing father are the warm, insightful letters from his transcriber, 'Magpie'.

But when his best friend falls for a girl far below their social rank, Seojun must join their chaperoned outings - alongside her sharp-tongued younger sister. Yet the more time Seojun and Haewon spend together, the more they realize how wrong their first impressions were . . .

About The Author

JUNE HUR is the bestselling author of YA historical mysteries The Silence of Bones, The Forest of Stolen Girls, and The Red Palace. In addition to being nominated twice for the Edgar Awards, she’s been featured on Forbes, NPR, KBS, and the CBC. Her fourth novel A Crane Among Wolves comes out 2024. Born in South Korea and raised in Canada, she studied History and Literature at the University of Toronto and formerly worked for the Toronto Public Library. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband and two kids.