“A novel delving into the realm of student uprisings, resistance against colonial rule, and the intricate role of language and translation as tools wielded by the British empire.
Traduttore, traditore: The act of translation always carries an element of treachery.
In the year 1828, a young boy named Robin Swift loses his family to cholera in Canton and is brought to London under the guardianship of the enigmatic Professor Lovell. There, he undergoes years of rigorous training in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for his eventual enrollment in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, famously known as Babel.
Babel stands as the global nucleus of translation and, even more significantly, magic. The practice of silver working—a craft that unveils the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has bestowed unprecedented power upon the British, advancing the Empire’s ambitions of colonization.
For Robin, Oxford appears as a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. Yet, the control of knowledge aligns with authority, and as a Chinese boy raised within British borders, Robin comes to understand that serving Babel equates to disloyalty to his homeland. As his studies progress, Robin becomes entangled in a dilemma between allegiance to Babel and involvement with the enigmatic Hermes Society—an organization committed to halting imperial expansion. When Britain embarks on an unjust war against China, fueled by motives involving silver and opium, Robin is faced with a crucial decision…
Can deeply entrenched institutions be transformed from the inside, or is revolution inevitably entwined with violence?”
