City of Iron and Ivy

by Thomas Kent West · 2026

In an alternate, flower‑filled London where magic blooms from fingertips and gowns are woven of wild blossoms, scholar Elswyth Elderwood lives a quiet life of research—until her beloved sister Persephone is brutally murdered. Suddenly the last scion of her house, Elswyth must abandon her studies, navigate a glittering society of hedge witches and aristocratic debutantes, and secure a wealthy marriage to save her family. As a serial killer known as the Reaper turns victims into plant‑human hybrids, clues point to a powerful nobleman, forcing Elswyth’s hunt for a husband and a murderer to converge. Drawn to the enigmatic, bastard‑born archaeologist Silas Blackthorn, she must untangle love, loyalty, and lethal secrets before she, too, becomes a victim of the garden of thorns.