Starfall

Her powers could save the kingdom - or burn it to the ground

1830. Wars on the Continent have left the British empire broken and bleeding; London is a smoking ruin, and Oxford is the new capital. The flames of the Industrial Revolution have destroyed the forests, driving magical beings into the light. The King lies dying or is already dead - no one knows for sure. In the gutters, beggars whisper of the red star that hangs over the rooftops, while crazed cults preach the end of days.

It wasn't the university experience Aria Shaw was expecting when she came to Oxford to study magic under the famed Professor Ashcroft. Insatiably curious and eager to learn how to control her formidable powers, Aria's hunger for knowledge verges on recklessness. Ashcroft - brilliant, mysterious, haunted by the ghosts of war - knows he can bring the best out of his gifted young pupil... if he can manage to keep her alive.

When a series of lethal attacks slash through the city, the fragile peace between the English monarchy and the faerie courts is threatened, and Aria and Ashcroft find themselves in the middle of a treacherous plot. Someone is trying to destabilise the kingdom and undo the victory against Napoleon and his dark magic. Somehow, Aria is at the centre of it all.

Starfall is the first book in The Oxford Book of Magick trilogy - a deliciously atmospheric historical fantasy for fans of V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic, Babel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and Philip Pullman's Oxford.