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A Restless Truth
A Restless Truth is the second entry in Freya Marske’s beloved, award-winning Last Binding trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light.
Magic! Murder! Shipboard romance!
Maud Blyth has always longed for adventure. She expected plenty of it when she volunteered to serve as an old lady’s companion on an ocean liner, in order to help her beloved older brother unravel a magical conspiracy that began generations ago.
What she didn’t expect was for the old lady in question to turn up dead on the first day of the voyage. Now she has to deal with a dead body, a disrespectful parrot, and the lovely, dangerously outrageous Violet Debenham, who’s also returning home to England. Violet is everything that Maud has been trained to distrust yet can’t help but desire: a magician, an actress, and a magnet for scandal.
Surrounded by the open sea and a ship full of suspects, Maud and Violet must first drop the masks that they’ve both learned to wear before they can unmask a murderer and somehow get their hands on a magical object worth killing for―without ending up dead in the water themselves.
A Restless Truth
A Restless Truth
Cozy Pairings
Speakeasy is a rich and layered fragrance that opens with warm spice and soft smoke, blending cardamom, incense, and pimento berry. At its heart, notes of saffron, plum blossom, and tobacco leaves create a deep and slightly sweet warmth, while hints of licorice add a subtle intrigue. The scent settles into a smooth, lingering base of palo santo, patchouli, vanilla, and dark chocolate, bringing a soft sweetness to its darker edges. Complex and atmospheric, this fragrance feels warm, enveloping, and quietly captivating.
Why we chose this: Edwardian England, a hidden magical society, a series of conspiracies that threaten every magician in the British Isles, and three slow-burn romances that unfold across country houses and ocean liners and prickly London townhouses: this trilogy is rich, atmospheric, and deeply satisfying. Speakeasy carries the same layered, slightly forbidden quality, smoky and complex, with a warmth that builds slowly and stays. It is the candle for every book in this trilogy. Light this candle and let the atmospheric richness fill the room like a manor house where the magic runs in the walls and the secrets are older than the furniture.