The Ropewright's Son

About this book

In the estuary city of Kessary, you exist only if your name is written in the Roll, and a name stays black only while someone living answers to it. Aurel Fenn, twenty-four, hunts the loose people who slip into dead citizens' names. He is very good at it, because eight years ago, in the Fever Winter, a pan-boy called Pell answered to a dying boy's name and never stopped. Now fever has returned, the Tollhouse has ordered a Great Recount, and every citizen must stand with two witnesses who knew them before 411. Aurel is ordered to find the Salt Forger who guides loose children to the bedsides of the dying. The trail leads to the salt pans, to the sister he promised to come back for, and to a choice about which name he will answer to when his turn comes.