A Brightness Long Ago

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What to expect

Internationally bestselling author Guy Gavriel Kay's latest work is set in a world evoking early Renaissance Italy, with an extraordinary cast of characters.

In a chamber overlooking the nighttime waterways of a maritime city, a man looks back on his youth and the people who shaped his life. Danio Cerra's intelligence won him entry to a renowned school, though he was only the son of a tailor. He took service at the court of a ruling count - and soon learned why that man was known as The Beast.

Danio's fate changed the moment he recognized Adria Ripoli as she entered the count's chambers one night - intending to kill. Born to power, Adria had chosen a life of danger - and freedom - instead.

Other vivid figures share the story: a healer determined to defy her expected lot; a charming, frivolous son of immense wealth; a religious leader more decadent than devout; and, affecting these lives and many more, two mercenary commanders, whose rivalry puts a world in the balance.

A Brightness Long Ago offers both compelling drama and deeply moving reflections on the nature of memory, the choices we make in life, and the role played by the turning of Fortune's wheel.

(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Praise for Guy Gavriel Kay

Praise for Guy Gavriel Kay

'The greatest living author of epic fantasy' Brandon Sanderson

'Contemporary fiction's finest fantasist' Tor.com

'History and fantasy rarely come together as gracefully or readably as they do in the novels of Guy Gavriel Kay' Washington Post

'One of the (if not the) premiere fantasists of our time' The Financial Times

'Compulsively readable . . . Kay is a global phenomenon . . . a storyteller on the grandest scale' Time Magazine (Canada)

(P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

Critics Review

By making the familiar ever so slightly strange, GGK breathes new life into historical fantasy. Beautifully faceted, jewel-like scenes carry us beyond the doublets and daggers to create an emotionally charged, high-stakes world of love and hate, threat and reward.
Daily Mail
The greatest living author of epic fantasy
Brandon Sanderson
The finest in his field
Tor.com
Believably and with great vividness, Kay recreates the past not as it was, but as it might have, perhaps should have, been
Financial Times
A Brightness Long Ago is a masterpiece; perhaps the finest work of one of the world's greatest living storytellers
Fantasy Book Review
No matter what the era, the themes, the characters, or the plot, a Guy Gavriel Kay novel is always a marvel of narrative construction
Beauty in Ruins Blog on A BRIGHTNESS LONG AGO
The single best reason I can think of for reading a Guy Gavriel Kay book is the supreme elegance and grace of his writing. ... A Brightness Long Ago is yet another gorgeous, moving novel from a master craftsman
Fantasy Literature Reviewer
Guy Gavriel Kay has a wonderful talent. He tells stories in an invented world that is so rich in historical echoes that I found myself smiling with pleasure as I heard the echoes, while engrossed in the story. Warmly recommended
Edward Rutherfurd, author of SARUM
Another brilliant novel from a literary giant
HNS Magazine
Guy Gavriel Kay ... may now hold the best claim to being the greatest living writer of fantasy fiction... Kay's novels take real historical events and then weave a fantastical new shape out of them, creating a rich tapestry of characters, events and emotions that is never less than affecting, and, at his best, can be deeply moving. A Brightness Long Ago (*****) is another superb novel from an author who may be fantasy's most reliably excellent, thoughtful, atmospheric and humane writer, and one whose powers remain notably undimmed. It's a book about lives, how people live them and the events that shape them, and how everything is connected
The Wertzone Blog on A BRIGHTNESS LONG AGO
Guy Gavriel Kay writes magical books ... He takes a plot and cast of characters, ones that would be interesting enough even in the hands of lesser authors, and turns them into something extraordinary through his lyrical and profoundly thoughtful storytelling, his insights into human character and motivations, and his musings on life and its meaning
Fantasy Literature Reviewer
A surefire hit for historical fiction and fantasy readers, A Brightness Long Ago further cements Kay's reputation as a wise and beguiling storyteller.
Shelf Awareness
It's the Italian renaissance brilliantly shot through with fantasy. Finely faceted scenes dazzle as strong, wilful characters create a high-stakes world of love and hate, threat and reward
Daily Mail
I love all Guy's novels, but this one is something really special: gorgeous and wise and incredibly generous of spirit
James Bradley

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