Mallow Fenn
The mouse clerk
Meet MallowThe Ledgerborne series by E. R. Ashwell
A city of small lives and consequential choices.
Discover the city through the animals who call it home.


Discover the city through the animals who call it home.



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Every season, the Ledger sends each animal in Hollow a recommendation. This one is for Mallow Fenn.
“Take the Reader’s apprenticeship at the Archive, beginning on the first day of winter.”
Mallow’s recommendation, Chapter 1


Book One of the Ledgerborne series
A literary fantasy for adults, alive with dry humor, river lanterns, and the daily work of an animal city.
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Enter Hollow.
How the Ledger works
Season recommendation 61-3-04418
To Mallow Fenn, Ninth Stair.
Take the Reader’s apprenticeship at the Archive, beginning on the first day of winter.
Answer by Settling Day.
The Ledger recommends; it does not require.
Every season, a brass canister drops into each household’s wire basket carrying green envelopes, one recommendation for each animal. This autumn, Mallow’s holds the thing he has wanted since childhood.
A recommendation is a single line of advice about work, family or home. Smaller daily slips come from brass Ledger posts around the city.
Each line carries a gain to the animal who receives it and a gain to Hollow. The two can disagree without either being false.
Mallow’s line, as printed in the autumn Register in Chapter 2: +2 to Mallow, +6 to Hollow. These are fictional figures within the novel, not percentages or probabilities.
Any recommendation may be accepted or declined. The answer belongs to the animal who receives it, and Mallow has until Settling Day to give his.