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The Gameshouse, Fiction, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
From Claire North comes the first of three digital-only novellas set in the ingenious and thrilling world of the Gameshouse.
The first installment of the Gameshouse, a mesmerising tale of a mystical gambling house whose deadly games of chance and skill control the fate of empires.
In seventeenth century Venice exists a mysterious establishment known only as the Gameshouse.
There, fortunes are made and fortunes are broken over games of chess, backgammon and every other game under the sun.
But those whom fortune favours may be invited to compete in the higher league . . . a league where the games played are of politics and empires, of economics and kings. It is a league where Capture the Castle involves real castles, where hide and seek takes place on a scale as big as the British Isles.
Not everyone proves worthy of competing in the higher league. But one woman who is about to play may just exceed everyone's expectations.
Though she must always remember: the higher the stakes, the more deadly the rules . . .
The three installments of the Gameshouse are also available in a single edition.
Praise for The Serpent: The Gameshouse, Part One
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Utterly readable, utterly believable and compelling . . . one of the fiction highlights of the decade - Judy Finnigan on THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST
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Beautiful and gripping - GUARDIAN on THE FIFST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST
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An astonishing re-invention of the time-travel narrative. Bold, magical and masterful - M. R. Carey, author of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS
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Beautifully written and structured . . . a remarkable book - BOOKLIST on THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST
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Claire North
Claire North is a pseudonym for Catherine Webb, who wrote several novels in various genres before publishing her first major work as Claire North, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. It was a critically acclaimed success, receiving rave reviews and becoming a word-of-mouth bestseller. She has since published several hugely popular and critically acclaimed novels, won the World Fantasy Award and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and been shortlisted for the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Philip K. Dick Award. She lives in London.
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