The Notorious Virtues

Bestselling At sixteen, Honora "Nora" Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money--and all the magic--in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir. But there''s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora''s aunt. When Lotte''s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she''d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead. And soon, Nora discovers that her mother''s death wasn''t random--it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for. While the dangers of the Veritaz competition threaten each of the Holtzfall girls, and the stark class differences turns political outrage to terrifing violence--the new cousins must fight to stay alive, no matter what. Incredible tests, impossible choices, and deadly odds await both girls. But there can only be one winner.

Autorentext

Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and lived between Canada, France, and Italy until she was three, when her family settled in the small French town of Beaune. She studied history of art at King's College, Cambridge, graduated in 2009, and lives in London. She is the author of Rebel of the Sands, Traitor to the Throne, and Hero at the Fall.

Klappentext

Bestselling Rebel of the Sands author Alwyn Hamilton is back with a glittering fantasy thriller about a glamorous media darling, a surprise heiress, and the magical competition of a lifetime.

This gorgeous hardcover first edition features emerald hued edges, creating a lush look for this stunning fantasy.

At sixteen, Honora "Nora" Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money—and all the magic—in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there's a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora's aunt. When Lotte's absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she'd abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.
And soon, Nora discovers that her mother's death wasn't random—it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

While the dangers of the Veritaz competition threaten each of the Holtzfall girls, and the stark class differences turns political outrage to terrifing violence—the new cousins must fight to stay alive, no matter what.

Incredible tests, impossible choices, and deadly odds await both girls. But there can only be one winner.

Leseprobe
Prologue
The Charmed City
It was known as the Enchanted Hour.
The sliver of day just before the clubs and bars and dance halls turned out their revelers. But after the factory workers and shopgirls had risen for another day.
The maids, cooks, footmen, and butlers had already hurriedthrough predawn streets to get to their posts. They waited, as the sky lightened, for their sleepless employers to stumble home, discarding shoes and bow ties that their staff would tidy up behind them.
The lumbering delivery trucks had made their rounds, with their clinking glass bottles of milk, tightly bound stacks of newspapers, and cooling loaves of bread. But the sleek taxis and grand town cars still idled sleepily.
Yesterday was forgotten, but it wasn’t quite today. Before the upper half of the city slept and after the lower half rose.
But the undying things in the woods never slept. They watched. They watched as a sleepy maid hurried to the back entrance of a white marble home, stumbling a little as she tucked her hair under her white cap. They wondered if she might lose her footing and cross out of the borders of daylight. They wondered if the footman shaking a cigarette into his palm might lean against a tree and come within reach.
And they wondered at the sight of the dark-­haired girl, appearing and disappearing between the gaps in the grand houses. Walking alone through the streets in stockinged feet, her dress still dancing in the rising sunlight. Looking like the whole city belonged to her alone.
Because one day, it might.
Chapter 1
Nora
Honora Holtzfall was never late.
Everyone who arrived before the Holtzfall Heiress was unfashionably early. Everyone who arrived after her was embarrassingly tardy.
Except Nora was no longer the Holtzfall Heiress. Officially, she never had been, though every newspaper had called her that. She’d been the heiress to the Heiress. But now the Heiress was dead, and Nora was no longer guaranteed to succeed her as eventual head of the family. She was just another granddaughter of Mercy Holtzfall.
And there wasn’t a person in Walstad wealthy enough that they could afford to keep Mercy Holtzfall waiting. Not even Nora.
Especially not Nora.
Especially not on the first day of the Veritaz Trials.
The clock above the bank on Bauer Street showed ten minutes to the hour.
Nora would just make it.
Obviously, in an ideal world, she would have arrived both on time and wearing shoes. But Nora couldn’t have everything, no matter what the papers liked to say.
Today was the equinox. Allegedly the first day of spring, although Nora would have contended the chill in the air wasn’t exactly vernal. But it meant that today, there would be exactly as much day as there was night. And even now, in a city lit with magimek bulbs, days like the equinox still held power.
Twice a year the immortal Huldrekall would willingly emerge from the woods. If they didn’t ask the Huldrekall for a Veritaz tonight, they would have to wait for the first day of autumn before they could start the trials.
Stay out of the woods, little one. The old folktale refrain whispered in Nora’s mind.There you will find dangers you do not yet know how to face.
Of course, every newspaper in the city had an opinion about the trials being held so swiftly.
At  Least Wait Until the Last Heiress Is Cold Before Picking a New One
Some couched it in feigned sympathy for Nora.
Let the Girl Grieve Before You Make Her Compete!
But like most things, Nora agreed with her grandmother rather than the press. The sooner they held the trials, the sooner she could regain her rightful place in the family.
So tonight, Mercy Holtzfall, head of their family for the past three decades, would ask the Huldrekall which of her granddaughters was worthiest of being her heir.
It was a rite that stretched back centuries.
Held over generations.
Bound up in blood, custom, and ancient oaths.
And still Nora wouldn’t put it past her grandmother to disqualify her if she was even a few minutes late for breakfast.
Nora turned onto Konig Street just as the metal grating of a kiosk clattered open noisily. Inside, the kiosk’s owner began slicing open the thick bundles of morning papers, arranging them among packs of gum, cigarettes, and small charms, so that their headlines faced out.
The front page of The Walstad Herald caught Nora’s eye. It was a pi…