The Jewel of Corlivo

One of my favorite books this year just came out last week! Kathleen Carr Foster‘s debut novel, The Jewel of Corlivo, is set in a reimagined 6th-century Byzantine Empire. Anna has been trained her whole life to be a courtesan, and now at 20, she’s eligible to have men bid on her in the pleasure house where she lives. But when things go wrong with a man who’s interested in her, Anna leaves her life behind with a near stranger, Sebastianus. With him, she has an opportunity to learn, to find out what happened to the mom she never knew, and, someday, to become an explorer like him. Danger lurks around every corner, but Anna may have finally found the family and love she never had before.

What I Liked:

It feels magical. Let me preface this review with my most glowing praise: The Jewel of Corlivo feels magical in the way books used to feel for me when I was a kid. This is the kind of book I would have stayed up in bed reading, long after my parents had turned out the lights. There’s just something about this novel that captured my whole attention, and I loved every second of it. This book is not actually a work of fantasy, despite some labels that have been applied to it. It is historical fiction, and yet it feels magical regardless. It’s imaginative, takes surprising turns, and makes a realistic past feel otherworldly.
Fiercely feminist. Our protagonist, Anna, is a remarkably clever young woman who’s eager to learn. She loves to read, but she’s also fearless in gaining skills with devices like the astrolabe. She quickly learns a new language, astronomy, and more, in part thanks to her tutor, Cassius. Beyond Anna, I loved the focus on uplifting women through education. This book shines a light on women who are essentially sex workers with few rights or freedoms. How can women make their own way in the world? One vital step is in giving them the knowledge and resources to start.
Adventure. Sebastianus is an explorer, and though Anna has been in a gilded cage her life, she longs for the kind of adventure he’s had. He’s been searching for some fabled caves full of thousand-year-old treasure; she longs to find her missing mom. Perhaps their two goals can converge? This book doesn’t become quite the adventure I was envisioning when it started, but it does come full circle by the end.
Inclusive found family. Sebastianus is disabled: due to prior injuries, he’s blind in one eye and walks with the aid of a cane. A few characters are gay/lesbian, and although the world overall may not be accepting of them, the found family within Sebastianus’s home are fully accepting of one another. I love the found family that Anna has ended up with.
Some romance. It’s not a romance novel, per se, but I really enjoyed the love story that unfolds between Anna and Sebastianus. He’s by no means a perfect man, but I can respect him and how he treats Anna throughout the novel. Anna may come from a lower place of power, but she holds her own and follows her own mind. They make a formidable pair.

Final Thoughts

The Jewel of Corlivo is a beautifully written and enchanting novel for anyone who loves historical fiction set farther back in time, strong feminist themes, and a gradual exploration built around astronomy and books. The novel may end somewhat abruptly, but it feels like our characters are embarking on an exciting new adventure. I truly hope there will be a sequel, because I would love to see what Anna, Sebastianus, and the rest of their crew find next!

This has been a stunning debut, and I can’t wait to read more from Kathleen Carr Foster.

Special thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy The Jewel of Corlivo here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

The Jewel of Corlivo by Kathleen Carr Foster
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction
Setting	Byzantine Empire
Number of Pages	368
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	October 27, 2026
Publisher	Erewhon Books

Official Summary

In a reimagined Byzantine empire, a runaway courtesan and her disgraced suitor are on the hunt for ancient treasure. But in Kathleen Carr Foster’s glittering debut, what they find will be far more troublesome . . .

Raised for the most luxurious pleasure house in mountain-ringed Corlivo, Anna has no illusions about her future. She’ll be a courtesan, as her mother was before she disappeared—and like her mother, gamble that her charms attract a patron rich enough to pay her debts.

But when a gruff explorer with connections at the capital notices Anna, it’s her sharp eye that draws him in. Sebastianus thinks Anna’s found a clue within the pages of an ancient book to the lost city of treasure he seeks, and she might well discover more.

Together they escape to the imperial court, where marvels are commonplace—and so is treachery. Anna’s courtesan training has hardly prepared her for the dangers of court life, let alone for delving into artifacts from the empire’s past. But when she uncovers a secret tied to her mother’s fate, Anna realizes more than her life is at stake. She holds the key to untold possibilities not only for herself, but for any of the women of Corlivo . . . if she can use it.

About the Author

Kathleen Carr Foster has an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University, where she was awarded the Florence Engel Randall Graduate Fiction Prize. She has also received an Emerging Artist Award from the St. Botolph Club Foundation. Her short stories have been published in Slice Magazine, on Harper Perennial’s Fifty-Two Stories website, and in 236, BU Creative Writing’s Literary Journal. While an undergraduate at Wellesley College, she won the Davis Prize for Fiction. She teaches writing at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in the Boston area with her family and an anxious rescue dog named Wendy. Her debut novel is forthcoming from Erewhon Books in October 2026.