Jess Brightwell’s world is ours, with one critical difference: the Great Library at Alexandria—the center of knowledge of the ancient world—never burned. Instead, it grew, encompassing and protecting all the other great libraries through the ages, amassing power and wealth beyond imagination.

In a world where owning original books is a crime, Jess’s family conducts a black market business in the smuggling of rare volumes … but when Jess is sent to apprentice at the Library, he quickly discovers that there are secrets and darkness inside those walls beyond anything he’d ever imagined.