Emmeline Ward is a conman's dream.

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Benjamin Barrow makes a living off people like her, bottling false hopes and profiting from broken dreams. He’ll do anything to survive the predatory wind that haunts Mercen and promises its victims all they can desire, even if it means using the same tricks to make a profit. When Benjamin meets newly-orphaned Emmeline, he pledges to help rescue her kidnapped brother - for a price, of course.

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Emmeline is autistic and has never navigated the world without her brother by her side. The wind promises her the belonging she’s always craved, but accepting its gifts would mean joining the cult of worshippers that tore her family apart. 

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Together, Emmeline and Benjamin delve into his world of conmen and travelling snake-oil shows to retrieve her brother from his captors and the carnivorous god they serve.  For Emmeline, failure means losing not only her brother, but the safety of the predictable life she's always known. And for Benjamin, already wanted for swindling half of Mercen, getting caught means trading his necktie for a noose.