Fawkes: A Novel

Nadine Brandes thrusts readers back to the time of anarchy and Guy Fawkes, with fantastical twists and unlikely love in Fawkes.

Guy Fawkes’s son must join his father’s plot to kill the king in this magical retelling of the Gunpowder Plot that will sweep you back in time to a divided England where plagues turn victims to stone.

In 17th-century London two forces rule the people: the color powers and the Stone Plague. Brown masks can manipulate wood. Black masks control the night. And red masks . . . Well, red is the color of blood.

Thomas Fawkes’s Color Test is upon him, and he is sure his father, the infamous Guy Fawkes, will present him with a mask and Thomas will finally bond with a color. He desperately hopes for a gray mask so he can remove the stone that has invaded his body and will ultimately take his life.

But when Guy refuses to give Thomas his mask or even his presence, Thomas has no place in school or society. His only hope is to track down his father and demand a mask to regain what he’s lost. But his father has other plans: to kill the king.

Thomas must join forces with his father if he wants to save his own life. When his errands for the cause bring him time and again to Emma Areben, a former classmate, Thomas is exposed to a whole new brand of magic. And Emma doesn’t control just one color—she controls them all.

Emma wants to show Thomas the full power of color magic, but it goes against everything his father is fighting for. If Thomas sides with his father, he could save his own life—which would destroy Emma and her family. To save one, he must sacrifice the other. No matter Thomas’s choice, one thing is clear: once the decision is made and the color masks have been put on, there’s no turning back.

Praise for Fawkes:

“An imaginative, colorful tale about choosing for yourself between what's right and what others insist is the truth.” —Cynthia Hand, New York Times bestselling author of My Lady Jane

“Hold on to your heart as this slow burning adventure quickly escalates into an explosion of magic, love, and the truth about loyalty.” —Mary Weber, bestselling author of the Storm Siren Trilogy and To Best the Boys

• Full-length young adult historical fantasy
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs
• Also by Nadine Brandes: Romanov and Wishtress, coming September 2022