Newt's Emerald

Newt's Emerald is a fantasy romance set in a Regency London where magic runs through the city. Lady Truthful Newington, known as Newt, turns eighteen and looks forward to a visit to the capital, where she hopes to meet eligible young lords. Her family's heirloom, the Newington Emerald, is due to pass to her, and the gem holds powerful and mysterious magic.

When the Emerald vanishes, Newt resolves to get it back. Because a well-bred young woman cannot travel alone, she disguises herself as a young man, complete with a false mustache. In her disguise she meets Major Harnett, a handsome but overbearing man who insists on helping her search. Newt finds his manners maddening yet needs his help, and she works hard to keep her real identity hidden from him, unaware that he is hiding secrets of his own.

The search becomes a sweeping adventure with sinister fey, elegant gowns, sharp banter, sea escapes, grand balls, and a sorceress whose scheme endangers everyone, including the Prince Regent. As the two face danger together, each discovers more to the other than first appeared, and their feelings begin to shift. Garth Nix, the Australian author of Sabriel, wrote this story as a tribute to the Regency romantasy genre, and it is told in a world where nearly everyone has something to conceal.