Venus, Vanishing - Fresh Ink EditionBlisteringly passionate, Venus, Vanishing by Rebecca Birrell is a page turning debut novel of desire, art, and the stories lost to the darkness of history. 'Gripping, gorgeously written . . . I couldn't put it down' Joanna Quinn, author of The Whalebone Theatre 'This vivid novel of 1930s Berlin asks what it means to make art in an emergency' Eleanor Catton, author of Birnam Wood Berlin, 1928. Hannah is new to the pleasures and freedoms of the city.

But because of the actions of one unscrupulous mercenary the rivals for the throne could soon be facing hundreds of dragons

against a soundtrack of wailing clarinets and gunfire

to block their memories of a time when they ruled and the world burned

and Beobrand is thrown into a deadly race for survival through foreign lands where he cannot be sure who is friend and who is foe

entirely shattering

It's better

she is a living weapon

It uncovers a world where love and hope walk hand in hand with barely concealed violence and despair

'In this thoughtful

all records of him vanish

On the counsel of his advisers

just before Christmas