The streets are full of souls, both living and dead. A line of monks winds through them on their way back to Hell’s Court from the market near the docks. There are ships in the harbor—trading ships—from Aquitan and the Lion Lands, and the doors at Le Livre are open to visitors.
If I lean out a little farther, I can see the Royal Opera House, and I can imagine the empty space on the marquee. The show must go on. Life must go on, even though death is a part of it. And there is still so much to tell of all that happens in between.
Turning back to my brother—to my family—I pick up the tools they have given me and set to work.
Author’s Note
When I set out to write a series with a bipolar main character, I didn’t realize how my own mental health would affect the actual writing process. It seems silly in retrospect, but I had assumed I would be studying my own madness through a glass—observing and recording from the outside.
Surprise—the glass was a mirror all along.
However, it’s worthwhile to note that some of the ways that I have written “malheur” will not always align with the experiences of everyone with bipolar disorder. (They don’t always align exactly with my own, either.) Rather, I have used my reality to inspire the story—though I have stuck more closely to reality when it comes to bipolar than I have in, say, my references to history, technology, or language.
Still, while this is a work of fiction, the heart of this story is strong and true: art is a powerful weapon, and love is our best defense.
Acknowledgments
Writing a series can sometimes feel like a fight, and battles are never waged on a single front.
In the hard-won victory of the final book in a three-book series, my editor Martha Mihalick has been the most capable general I could imagine. I would follow her anywhere.
My agent Molly Ker Hawn is an expert quartermaster. It’s thanks to her that I know what I’m doing, and when, and what to expect when I get there.
Thanks also to Mike Pettry, my old buddy in the writerly trenches, and to the team at Greenwillow, who ride quickly and boldly forward into new territory.
Speaking of ride or die, I’m forever grateful to my husband, Bret Heilig, and for our kids, one who speaks softly and the other who carries a big stick.
And now that the battle is through, I’d like to thank my readers most of all, for believing in the justness of the cause.
About the Author
HEIDI HEILIG is the author of The Girl from Everywhere, an Indie Next Pick and an NPR Best Book of the Year. She is also the author of the acclaimed novels The Ship Beyond Time, For a Muse of Fire, and A Kingdom for a Stage. Heidi Heilig holds an MFA from New York University in musical theatre writing, and she’s written the book and lyrics for several shows. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.
www.heidiheilig.com
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Books by Heidi Heilig
The Girl from Everywhere
The Ship Beyond Time
For a Muse of Fire
A Kingdom for a Stage
On This Unworthy Scaffold
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Copyright
Content notes: Mental illness (bipolar), blood magic and self-inflicted wounds, colonialism, war, kidnapping, descriptions of dead bodies and gore, mention of suicide, death of a child, death of an animal
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
ON THIS UNWORTHY SCAFFOLD. Text copyright © 2021 by Heidi Heilig. Map illustrations copyright © 2021 by Maxime Plasse. Music for “The Lights of Lephare,” “A Good Time,” and “Leo’s Song” copyright © 2021 by Mike Pettry; lyrics copyright © 2021 by Heidi Heilig. Reprinted by permission of the authors. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Cover art © 2021 by Leo Nickolls
Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h and Leo Nickolls
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021933813
Digital Edition APRIL 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-265202-7
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-265200-3 (hardcover)
2122232425PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
Greenwillow Books
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