THE ABSINTHE UNDERGROUND
After running away from home, Sybil Clarion is eager to embrace all the freedom the Belle Époque city of Severon has to offer. Instead, she’s traded high-society soirées for empty pockets. At least she has Esme, the girl who offered Sybil a home, and if either of them dared, something more.While Esme would rather spend the night tinkering with her clocks and snuggling her cats, Sybil craves excitement and needs money. She plans to get both by stealing the rare posters that crop up around town. But when she’s caught selling a poster by none other than its subject, Maeve,
After running away from home, Sybil Clarion is eager to embrace all the freedom the Belle Époque city of Severon has to offer. Instead, she’s traded high-society soirées for empty pockets. At least she has Esme, the girl who offered Sybil a home, and if either of them dared, something more.While Esme would rather spend the night tinkering with her clocks and snuggling her cats, Sybil craves excitement and needs money. She plans to get both by stealing the rare posters that crop up around town. But when she’s caught selling a poster by none other than its subject, Maeve, the glamorous girl invites Sybil and Esme to The Absinthe Underground, the exclusive club she co-owns, and reveals herself to be a Green Faerie, trapped in this world.
Maeve wants to hire thieves for a daring heist in Fae and is willing to pay enough that Sybil and Esme never have to worry about money again. It’s too good of an offer to pass up, even if Maeve’s tragic story doesn’t quite add up, and the secrets could jeopardize everything the girls have so carefully built.
Jamie Pacton, author of The Vermilion Emporium, dazzles in this whimsical and daring romantic fantasy. Fans of Fae lore, slow-burn sapphic pining, and decadently magical worlds will find The Absinthe Underground as ensorcelling as a fairy delight.
- Peachtree Teen
- Hardcover
- February 2024
- 304 Pages
- 9781682634929
Buy the Book
$19.99
About Jamie Pacton
Jamie Pacton is an award-nominated young adult and middle grade author, who writes swoony, funny, magical books across genres. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching college English, obsessively reading obscure history, hiking, baking, or playing video games .Her books include The Vermilion Emporium, Lucky Girl, and The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly.
Praise
“In this haunting tale, Pacton weaves a romantic and thrilling story of ambition, magic, and peril. Sybil and Esme’s chemistry is palpable, and Pacton’s lush portrayal of Severon as a city filled with art and beauty reminiscent of fin de siècle Paris adds additional layers of enchantment and appeal to the setting.”–Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“[A] sweetly enchanting ‘romantasy’ for fans of quasi-historical fiction.”–Booklist
“A sweetly undemanding, cozy sapphic romance sprinkled with magic and adventure.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books