Dear Bartleby by Sarah Wallace

Dear Bartleby, Tutting-on-Cress is so small as to be idyllic. Hate it already. Sent down from Oxford for playing one prank too many, Sebastian Hartford is well aware that he’s a disappointment to his family. Ordered to stay with — and learn from — two of his more respectable older siblings, Seb is prepared to be miserable in the country. Saddled with extracurricular schooling to keep him out of trouble, Seb can only let his mischievous mind run loose on the pages of his journal, “Bartleby.” But when he is offered a job as a spellcaster’s assistant to the enigmatic Lord Finlington, Seb’s creative flair finds a place to flourish. Soon, he is at the center of a search for a new Royal Spellcaster to the Crown — and falling in love with one of the contenders. But right as a future with a man who loves him starts to unfold, Seb’s past mistakes threaten to bar him from securing happiness. And jumping through social hoops may prove his growth to everyone — except himself.

Adult • Romance/Historical • Historical Fiction/Fantasy • Fantasy/Historical • Diversity Representation/LGBTQ+ • Fantasy/Cozy, Low, Mundane, and Slice of Life

Content Warning: references to past bullying, particularly in the form of verbal and sexual abuse, references to a side character being a sex trafficking victim, on page verbal sexual assault