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The Scarlet Ball
  • Published: 6 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804961070
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400

The Scarlet Ball

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
6 Oct 2026
EBook
6 Oct 2026
Audiobook
6 Oct 2026
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A dark and magical tale of ballrooms and bloodshed in the Gilded Age, from multi-award winning fantasy author Nghi Vo.

Judith Ban – convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief – is looking for her next identity. She’s no stranger to wealth or danger, but the glitter of New York’s Gilded Age hides a darkness even she has never imagined. Here, the city’s elite maintain their grip through opulent balls, whispered rituals, and marriages with demons hungry for human devotion.

When she crosses paths with the formidable matriarch of the Howard family, Judith is offered an irresistible bargain: to take the place of a missing debutante in the coming season. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith becomes white, rich, and ready to risk it all. If she can hold onto her charm, her wits, and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power.

But in a world ruled by appetite and ambition, the most dangerous hunger of all might be her own.
  • Published: 6 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781804961070
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 400

About the author

Nghi Vo

Nghi Vo is the bestselling author of the novels Siren Queen, The Chosen and the Beautiful, and The City in Glass, as well as the acclaimed novellas of the Singing Hills Cycle, which began with The Empress of Salt and Fortune. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Locus, and Lambda Literary Awards and the LA Times and Ursula K. Le Guin Prizes, and has won the Crawford, Ignyte, and Hugo Awards. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind.
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Praise for The Scarlet Ball

Filled with demons and witchcraft, scheming and seduction, Nghi Vo's The Scarlet Ball is a dark, opulent descent into a Gilded Age that never was. This is a novel of immense power and imaginative force. It's nothing short of wonderful.

J.M. Miro, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ordinary Monsters

Blending the realism and wit of Edith Wharton with the indulgence and romance of fantasy, Vo has created something wholly unique and wildly genius. Clever, vicious, and gorgeous – my favorite of hers yet.

Ava Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of Innamorata and A Study In Drowning

A faced-paced work of glittering, bloody imagination, delivered in scathing and luxurious prose. It pulled me in, held me captive, then spat me out changed and triumphant. Utterly fantastic.

Freya Marske, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Marvellous Light

So utterly original, so spellbinding, so effortlessly plotted and so gorgeously written, it's hard to believe a mere mortal could write it, and yet she did, and I stand in awe of it and her.

Johanna Van Veen, USA Today bestselling author of Blood on Her Tongue

My favorite read of the year so far. What a vicious, ambitious, HUNGRY book. I want to immediately read it again.

Katee Robert, New York Times bestselling author of Neon Gods

A whirlwind of a story, a tempest of imagination and full of the most dangerous magic, The Scarlet Ball is as breathtaking as it is entertaining. For wicked dreamers everywhere.

Alma Katsu, author of Incarnate

Glittering, grotesque, and sharply seductive... a dark jewel of a novel: part Gothic fairy tale, part nightmare of manners, and entirely its own.

Shana Abé, New York Times bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor and A Crown of Stars