"Binding the Cuckoo_First 5 CHAPTERS"

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In the late Victorian era, a technological marvel allows scientists to open rifts into the realms of legend. Powerful creatures, weakened and stripped of their memories, are brought to serve the whims of the wealthy elite... Hare, a young woman with a mythical secret finds herself trapped, facing an unenviable future. When an equally desperate schoolmistress, Miss Anne Bonningham offers her a chance at freedom, they embark on a daring plan. Disguised as "Miss Edwina Walker," Hare navigates the treacherous waters of London high society, solely focused on securing a marriage and escaping her past. However, amidst the glittering balls and intricate social games, as hidden agendas surface and a vengeful figure from her past threatens to expose her true identity, Hare must make a choice: embrace a life of comfort and security or choose freedom and a love that could shatter the very foundation of her world. **The book is meant for a mature audience** “Houston’ words flow as easily as ink. By turn romantic, soft, funny, and light - her characters spark and her stories linger long in the mind. This is history with added light.” -Caroline Hardaker, the author of Composite Creatures & Mothtown "In an alternative universe, during the fin-de-siecle, Hare, a disguised fae, tries to navigate both the London marriage market, and the darker struggles of the binding that her magical kinfolk have fallen prey to. But as a web of intrigue slowly closes around her, and her own concealed identity is threatened, her struggle to maintain both her autonomy and her loyalty to her fellow mythics is further complicated by her own passionate attraction to a young lawyer. Hare is a delightful protagonist, brave and compassionate, and Houston's writing is pacy and effervescent. The book is a beguiling mixture of period romance and fantasy, infused with pathos and drama. It's a witty historical paranormal romance, but it goes deeper than many books in the genre. Houston's books are always informed by her own intuitive knowledge of Slavic folklore as a transhistorical commentary. In Binding The Cuckoo, the lightness and charm of her writing forms a counterpoint to the subtle parallels she draws between the trope of the outsider in fantasy, historical slavery and contemporary xenophobia. Like the alluring Hare, it beguiles the reader till the final pages." - Tracy Fahey, the multi-award-winning author of I Spit Myself Out and What Happens at the End