The Stockholm Octavo — Karen Engelmann

Life is close to perfect for Emil Larsson, a self-satisfied bureaucrat in the Office of Customs and Excise in 1791 Stockholm. He is a true man of the Town -- drinker,
card player, and contented bachelor -- until one evening, when Mrs. Sofia Sparrow; proprietor of an exclusive gaming parlor and fortune-teller, shares with him a vision she has had: a golden path that will lead to love and connection for Emil. She offers to lay an Octavo for him, a spread of cards that augurs the eight individuals who can help him realize this vision -- if he can find them.

Emil begins his search, intrigued by the puzzle of his Octavo and the good fortune that Mrs. Sparrow's vision portends. But when Mrs. Sparrow wins a mysterious folding fan in a card game, the Octavo's deeper powers are revealed. No longer just a game of the heart, collecting his Eight is now crucial to pulling his country back from the crumbling precipice of rebellion and chaos.

Set against the luminous backdrop of late-eighteenth-century Stockholm, as the winds of revolution rage through the great capitals of Europe, The Stockholm Octavo brings together a collection of characters, both fictional and historical, whose lives tangle in political conspiracy, love, and magic in a breathtaking debut that will leave you spellbound.