The 1566 Series (Book Four) Arnaldo Calveyra attentive learning

attentive learning

loosely related souls (milling about as often in the distant past as in the mansion’s garden full of intoxicated snails)—delivers like a slap an indelible picture of the swampiness of family life

with its dark specter of surveillance

And usually it's the subtle

The 1566 Series (Book Four) Arnaldo Calveyra attentive learningThe empire is in mortal danger. Hai Rui and his allies bought her time, but now it is spent. Endless war. Mass starvation. Bleak omens. Addled by mercury and aided by sycophants, Emperor Jiajing is squandering the last remnants of the treasury. Minutes to midnight, Hai Rui is ordered to the capital. He alone is prepared to fight the rot at its source. In the Forbidden City, such bravery cannot go unpunished. It will be down to Hai Ruis allies foremost