When the Sparrow Falls

Written by Neil Sharpson

Narrated by Jake Fairbrother

Neil Sharpson's When the Sparrow Falls illuminates authoritarianism, complicity, and identity in the digital age, in a darkly-funny, frightening and touching story that recalls Philip K. Dick, John LaCarré and Kurt Vonnegut in equal measure.

Welcome to the Caspian Republic. The last bastion of true humanity in a world given over to artificial intelligence.

Stray from the path towards anything "machine" and the state will correct you.

When propagandist Paulo Xirau dies, and is discovered to himself be a "machine", State Security Agent Nikolai South is given a new assignment he could hardly want less: chaperone the widow, Lily, the only "machine" visitor ever invited from the outside world, and help her determine what happened to her husband.

Nikolai knows it will be nearly impossible to complete the job without running afoul of the Party—but when he sees that Lily bears an eerie resemblance to his late wife, Nikolai stumbles on a larger plot, one that exposes all the lies he’s told himself and which may bring down the Republic for good.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jun 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250807922

Neil Sharpson

Neil Sharpson lives in Dublin with his wife and their two children. Having written for theater since his teens, Neil transitioned to writing novels in 2017, adapting his play The Caspian Sea into When The Sparrow Falls. A huge fan of animation, Neil writes Unshaved Mouse, a comedic review blog mostly focusing on animated film and comic book movies.