Sailing to Sarantium

In the first volume of the brilliant Sarantine Mosaic, master storyteller Guy Gavriel Kay crafts a mesmerizing story of an awe-inspiring city and the people drawn into its spell.


After losing his wife and daughters to the plague, a grieving artisan, Crispin, receives a summons from the emperor and reluctantly embarks on the long journey toward the imperial city of Sarantium--the golden heart of an empire. Despite its perils, the allure of Sarantium's glory draws travellers and pilgrims from across the continent. But before Crispin can reach the capital, he must pass through a land of pagan ritual and mysterious danger. Marked by a brush with the supernatural and bound by a promise made to another monarch, Crispin's arrival at the imperial court will not be a quiet one. Sailing to Sarantium is a gripping tale of one man's journey to rebuild his life amid the power and grandeur of a remarkable civilization.