Bøker av Jo Sparkes

Having always accepted life as it is, Maggie's world transforms when she watches a butterfly burst free of a spider's web. It never occurred to her that one might actually escape. Maggie's daughter has just been promoted to the house, and becomes the personal maid to the Mistress. House hands are favored with better work and better food, so her daughter is very happy where she is. Besides, Maggie is a field hand, and all field hands know you can't trust house slaves.Lucy, the nine-year-old daughter of the Master, is a lonely child with no friends near and a mother who's hand does her talking. When Lucy sees Maggie's son break her only pitcher, and Maggie comfort rather than strike him, she yearns to feel just a little of Maggie's warmth. But Maggie knows mixing with a white child can bring nothing but trouble.One day Maggie's two young boys discover Preacher, the giant escaped slave hiding beneath the honeysuckle tree. Preacher's leg is torn bad, and the boys get Maggie to help.In Preacher, Maggie sees her path to freedom. In Maggie, however, Preacher sees yet another anchor round his neck. He can't rightly reach freedom as it is; how will he do so hampered by a mother and kids?

On a Caribbean dive vacation, five friends discover a centuries old shipwreck - and a karmic debt past due.  Wall Eddington has always done the correct thing. It''s part of being British, part of family tradition. Yet someone drowned.Now, half a world away, he''s diving off an old sailboat with four American friends. As a vacation it''s a bit primitive, but just what his soul craves.Untouched and impossibly preserved, the thing bewitches with promises of gold. Their rush to claim it bogs down with odd accidents and petty arguments - and Wall is not the only one with dark dreams of pain and torture. Dreams of a captain called Sadico. In fleeing his personal demon, Wall has run straight to its lair. This trap was laid centuries ago, for five souls moved on to new lives and new loves. Set by the one soul they left behind. 

The Women of Agben use herbs to heal and enhance only. Yet Marra saw a third use, one with a brew that can detect a prince and a potion to hide a creature’s appearance. A forbidden art being wielded against the throne.Its source thrives on the Dim Continent.Journeying with her mentor to this fabled place, Marra stumbles on another secret. Agben includes Terrin females - the same hairy creatures that kidnapped a king. Now the trust binding them together is rapidly corroding.She doesn’t know Prince Tryst has pursued the traitors to this wild, dangerous land. Or that Drail travels with him, providing gamesmen cover.In a land of strange beings and dangerous animals, the three friends must again pool their skills. This time not just to save themselves – but to save all their people. The fate of Skullan and Trumen alike hinge on defeating a powerful enemy, with a centuries-old plot. The final battle looms in the heart of his power – the Dim Continent. The Legend of The GamesmenMore than a sport, the gamesmen stand for an idea - that humble men can win the day. That the lowly are not so low, and the least of men may yet succeed. A fable told across the three continents.This is the tale that launched the legend.

It should have been a happy ending. A Prince restored, victory in the black arena. Instead the band of friends shatters against an evil conspiracy.Refusing to endanger one man or burden another, Marra flees to the Agben School. Agben, whose ancient walls have held for a thousand years, protecting those within as they sought to harness the power of nature.But this evil is relentless, and the school may not be the safe ground she thought. In fact it may not be anything she thought. Cut off from the only friends she knew, Marra discovers more than her life hangs in the balance.For the future of her race – of both races – depends not on a prince trying to save his people, nor the heroic men who’d brought them this far.Everything depends on her. The Legend of The GamesmenMore than a sport, the gamesmen stand for an idea - that humble men can win the day. That the lowly are not so low, and the least of men may yet succeed. A fable told across the three continents.This is the tale that launched the legend.

Marra never heard of Birr Elixir. But when Drail sees the potion in her dead mistress's book, she agrees to make it. Even lacking the right ingredient. And after drinking it, Drail and his men defeat a Skullan team - something no one has ever done before. Marra is offered a place as his traveling potions mistress. Full of doubts of her own ability, she takes the chance to escape her slave-like existence. Then her potions woke a man who was not supposed to wake. Now every day draws more attention from the True Masters. And their motives – and morals – are not for the faint of heart. If they discover the truth …  The Legend of The GamesmenMore than a sport, the gamesmen stand for an idea - that humble men can win the day. That the lowly are not so low, and the least of men may yet succeed. A fable told across the three continents.This is the tale that launched the legend.