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Shortlisted for the 2016 David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut[Published as The Traitor Baru Cormorant in the US]Baru Cormorant believes any price is worth paying to liberate her people - even her soul.When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home- criminalizes her customs- and murders one of her Fathers- Baru vows to hide her hate- join the Empires civil service- and claw her way up enough rungs of power to put a stop to the Emperors influence and set her people free. As a natural savant- she is sent as an imperial agent to distant Aurdwynn - a post she worries will never get her the position and power she craves. But Baru soon discovers Aurdwynn is a complex and secretive country- seemingly on the brink of rebellion. All it would need is a match to the tinder . . .Drawn by the intriguing duchess Tain Hu into a circle of seditious aristocrats- Baru may be able to use her position to stoke a revolution that will threaten to bring the Empire to its knees.As Baru maintains a precarious balance between the rebels and a shadowy cabal within the Empire- she orchestrates a do-or-die gambit with Aurdwynns freedom as the prize. But winning the long game of saving her own people may be far more costly than Baru imagines....