THE WINTER CROWN by Elizabeth Chadwick out in paperback today!

New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Chadwick’s second novel in her Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy, THE WINTER CROWN, is published in paperback by Sphere today.

Winter 1154: Eleanor, Queen of England, is biding her time. Married now to England’s King Henry II, he battles for land across the channel, while Eleanor fulfils her duty as acting ruler and bearer of royal children. But she wants to be more than this - if only Henry would let her. Instead, Henry belittles and excludes her leaving Eleanor side-lined and angry. As her sons become young men, frustrated at Henry's hoarding of power, Eleanor is forced into a rebellion of devastating consequences.

We’re also delighted to announce that Sphere has just signed two more compelling historical novels by Elizabeth Chadwick. Chadwick will revisit the life of William Marshal, the hero of her internationally bestselling novels THE GREATEST KNIGHT and The Scarlet Lion for publication in 2018.  In the second novel she will turn her focus on William Marshal’s family by marriage and the story of Norman adventurer Richard de Clare and Irish princess Aoife of Leinster. 

Maddie West, Deputy Publisher for Sphere Fiction, said “We are proud to publish Elizabeth Chadwick: her wonderful novels paint astonishingly vivid pictures of medieval Europe. Her legions of devoted fans will be delighted to hear that there are new stories to be told about William Marshal.”

Sphere also revealed plans to reissue revised editions of Elizabeth Chadwick’s Ravenstow Trilogy in summer 2018 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the paperback publication of her first novel, The Wild Hunt.

Elizabeth Chadwick said “I have long wanted to write about a missing three year period in the great William Marshal’s career that was perhaps the most important turning point of his life.  I have also often pondered the fascinating dynamics of the relationship between Richard de Clare and Aoife of Leinster and am thrilled that Sphere has given me the chance to realise my ambition to write these wonderful, gripping stories.”

Carole Blake said “It’s wonderful to be able to continue such a long and successful collaboration between an author and a publisher.   Republishing her early novels on the 25th anniversary of the publication of her first, with all of them still in print, is really something to celebrate.”

Author and agent are visiting Sphere for a marketing presentation and celebratory lunch today.

The first book in the Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy, THE SUMMER QUEEN, was published by Sphere in 2013, and was featured in Bloggers Recommend as one of the 22 must reads for July 2014, and was the July Top Pick on RT Book Reviews, who called it “realistic, emotional, vibrant, exciting and unputdownable.”

Rights to both books have been sold in the US (Sourcebooks), Germany (Blanvalet), Latvia (Kontinent) and Czech Republic (Euromedia).

Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick:

'The best writer of medieval fiction currently around.' -- Historical Novel Review

'The author blends authentic period details with modern convention for emotional drama.' -- Elizabeth Buchan, Mail on Sunday

Praise for THE WINTER CROWN:

'Elizabeth Chadwick... brings history to life so vividly it is as if we are witnessing it ourselves and not simply reading it on the page.' – Kate Atherton, For Winter Nights

‘THE WINTER CROWN is concerned with court politics, with the relationships between people, but has a wider perspective onto the troubling events of Alienor’s reign. It is rich and complex.’ – History Today, Jerome de Groot

‘The historical facts of this era are well known and very well documented, but even so, Elizabeth Chadwick still manages to weave a gripping story which I found unputdownable… Highly recommended.’ – Historical Novel Society

Praise for THE SUMMER QUEEN:

 ‘Engrossingly written and well researched, this is the first in a promised trilogy on Eleanor of Aquitaine… one of the medieval period’s wealthiest and most influential women.’ – Choice Magazine

‘Sucked me right in from the start, and refused to let me go ... one of my favourite reads of the year, and I may even go as far as to call it one of the best historical fiction novels I’ve ever read.’ – A Thousand and One Books

THE DAY WILL COME by Beryl Matthews published tomorrow by Allison & Busby

A new novel from Beryl Matthews, THE DAY WILL COME, is published in hardback tomorrow by Allison & Busby, together with paperback re-issues of her earlier novels, BATTLES LOST AND WON and DIAMONDS IN THE DUST.  They are also available as ebooks. Beryl has previously published 12 novels in hardback with Severn House.

All three novels are heart-warming stories set in London between and during the first and second world wars.

Beryl Matthews is an accomplished novelist, writing in the genre that Catherine Cookson made her own, but with stories set in London. As a young girl her ambition was to become a professional singer but lack of funds drove her into an office, where she worked her way up from tea-girl to credit controller. After she retired, she began to pursue her dream of becoming a published author.

Allison & Busby are giving these re-issued novels a fresh cover style, and will publish two more titles in Spring 2016.

MARGOT AT WAR published in paperback today

Anne de Courcy’s thrilling true story of Margot Asquith, wife to the Prime Minister during World War One, MARGOT AT WAR, is out today in paperback from Weidenfeld & Nicholson.

Known for her wit, style and habit of speaking her mind, Margot Asquith transformed 10 Downing Street into a glittering social and intellectual salon. Drawing on unpublished material from personal papers and diaries, Anne de Courcy vividly recreates this extraordinary time when the Prime Minister’s residence was run like an English country house, with socialising taking precedence over politics, love letters written in the cabinet room and gossip and state secrets exchanged over the bridge table. It tells of Margot’s heartbreak as she witnessed her much older husband fall hopelessly in love with a young friend. 

The book was shortlisted for Political Book of the Year 2015 in the Paddy Power Political Book Awards.

Anne de Courcy is the author of many highly acclaimed works of biography and social history, and her bestselling THE FISHING FLEET (film rights sold at auction to Ridley Scott) was chosen as one of Lady Antonia Fraser’s best books of 2012 in The Daily Mail.

 Praise for Anne de Courcy:

‘Anne de Courcy combines the perseverance of the social historian with the panache of a novelist’ – The Sunday Times

‘Compulsively readable, and immaculately researched… popular social history at its very best’ – Mail on Sunday

HAPPY GUY FAWKES! - LUNGDON by Edward Carey is out!

November 2015 marks the drawing to a close of Edward Carey’s exceptional Iremonger trilogy, with LUNGDON being published in the UK (Hot Key), US (Overlook) and Canada (HarperCollins) this month. Like its predecessors (HEAP HOUSE and FOULSHAM) LUNGDON is published in hardback with a stunning cover, endpapers and internal illustrations by Edward himself – even more wonderful Iremonger images than ever before in this stunning final instalment!

With a grand finale taking place in the Houses of Parliament (with Queen Victoria making a cameo appearance), Guy Fawkes seems an appropriate publication day for LUNGDON. Edward wrote this piece on Guy Fawkes (illustrated with his own reversible Halloween/Guy Fawkes card) for Electric Literature and will be introducing his fans in Austin, Texas to this very British celebration today. The US launch will take place at the Uncommon Objects store at 7:30 pm tonight and will feature the cutting (and consuming) of a House of Parliament cake and much LUNGDON signing!

FOULSHAM and HEAP HOUSE continue to receive amazing reviews. FOULSHAM was selected by Amazon.com for the best YA Books of July, who called it ‘an eagerly awaited return to an unusual gothic world of trash and treasure… There is much to learn and marvel at from beginning to end.’ Edward Carey has been likened to HARRY POTTER by Nancy Pearl, who gave HEAP HOUSE two thumbs up in her talk with Marcie Sillman on Seattle News & Information. HEAP HOUSE was a New York Times Notable Book.

Recently the Antonia Jannone gallery hosted the first ever exhibition of the Iremonger world to coincide with Bompiani’s Italian publication of FOULSHAM and Edward Carey’s visit to Milan for the Bookcity festival. Thirty original illustrations were on display – ten for each book. Edward Carey and his agent Isobel Dixon attended the launch of the exhibition last weekend, Edward’s second invitation from Bompiani this year following his visit to the Bologna book fair to launch HEAP HOUSE. The Iremonger trilogy is sold in twelve countries and the audio edition is due for release soon. Check out Grasset’s trailer for Le Château des Ferrailleurs (HEAP HOUSE) here.

In LUNGDON, the Iremonger family is at large in London, the ruins of the town of Foulsham left burning behind them. They need a new home and they intend to find one ... Londoners are beginning to notice bizarre happenings – loved ones disappearing, strange objects appearing and a creeping darkness that seems to swallow up the daylight. The Police have summoned help, but is their cure more deadly than the feared Iremongers? What role will Clod play: returning son or rebel? Heartbroken child or hero? And where are all the rats coming from?

The interlocking fates of the odd and marvellous Iremongers are now to be unravelled and disclosed in the thrilling conclusion to the Iremonger trilogy. Will servant girl Lucy Pennant and young Clod Iremonger be reunited? Will the Heaps, their ramshackle ancestral home, continue to stand? Will their birth objects, discarded items – a door knob, a bathtub plug, a matchbox, what-have-you – given to them at birth with lives and histories of their own, continue to exert their uncanny pull? All will be revealed in LUNGDON.

Novelist, visual artist and playwright Edward Carey is the author of two acclaimed adult novels as well, published in many countries around the world. OBSERVATORY MANSIONS was shortlisted for the Borders Discover New Writers Award and described by John Fowles as ‘proving the potential brilliance of the novel form’. ALVA AND IRVA was longlisted for the 2005 IMPAC Literary Award. Both were accompanied by Edward’s artworks.

Follow Edward on Twitter

Visit the Iremongers on Edward’s marvellous website

Praise for the IREMONGER trilogy:

‘If this were music, Carey would be Eric Satie. If it were film, he would be Tim Burton.’ – Newsday

‘Edward Carey's HEAP HOUSE-- delightful, eccentric, heartfelt, surprising, philosophical, everything that a novel for children should be.’ – Eleanor Catton, author of THE LUMINARIES

‘IREMONGER torques and tempers our memories of Dickensian London into a singularly jaunty and creepy tale of agreeable misfits. Read it by gas lamp, with a glass of absinthe at your wrist and a fireplace poker by your knee. ’ – Gregory Maguire, author of WICKED

‘Fabulously strange and in the tradition of Mervyn Peake... Astonishing and inventive, it calls out to be read.' – Sunday Times’ Best Children’s Books of 2013 

‘Spectacularly weird’ – New York Times Books Review, Editor’s Choice

BEAUTIFUL NEW KNIGHTLEY & SON EDITIONS OUT TOMORROW!

Rohan Gavin’s KNIGHTLEY & SON Books One and Two – KNIGHTLEY & SON and K-9 – are to be re-released this Thursday by Bloomsbury Children’s Books with a fantastic new cover look.

Darkus Knightley is not your average thirteen-year-old: ferociously logical with a fondness for tweed, detective work is in his blood. His dad, Alan, was London's top private investigator and an expert in crimes too strange for Scotland Yard to handle, but four years ago the unexplained finally caught up with him and he fell into a mysterious coma. Darkus is determined to follow in his father's footsteps and find out what really happened…

The game is afoot for Knightley & Son - with a mystery that gets weirder by the minute. In K-9, the second instalment of the KNIGHTLEY & SON series, we see Darkus return. With his dad off the radar once again, this time he's accompanied by a new partner in crime-solving: an ex-bomb-disposal dog. Family pets are being savaged by a beast at a top London beauty spot. Policemen have been tracked and attacked by a particularly aggressive canine. And two curiously alert hounds seem to be watching Darkus’s house. No one is using the word werewolf – yet – but as the full moon approaches, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to work out that someone or something sinister is messing with the minds of London’s dog population. A mysterious canine conspiracy is howling for the attention of Knightley & Son…

The new look KNIGHTLEY & SON books will set the scene for the third title in the series 3 OF A KIND, in which the Knightley and Son team cross the Atlantic! 3 OF A KIND is out from Bloomsbury UK on 7 January 2016, and Bloomsbury US in August 2017. Watch this space for more exciting news to come …

K-9 was chosen as one of Sunday Express Summer Picks for Older Children in 2014 and KNIGHTLEY & SON was a Kirkus Best Children's Book of the Year 2014, a Sunday Times Pick of the Week, as well as Guardian Best Kids’ Book and a Daily Mail Summer Book Choice. The Guardian described KNIGHTLEY AND SON as “full of intrigue, suspense and humour ... a modern day classic detective mystery” and the Daily Mail wrote “the tweed-loving Doc is a young Holmes for our times.” KNIGHTLEY & SON was Shortlisted for the Stockton Children’s Book Awards 2014 and the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2014, longlisted for Fantastic Book Awards 2014, and received an honour from the International Literary Association Children’s and Young Adults' Book Awards. Gallimard publish the KNIGHTLEY & SON series in France.

Rohan Gavin is an author and screenwriter, and father. He lives in London.

Praise for KNIGHTLEY & SON:

‘Full of suspense, intrigue and humour this is a modern day classic adventure story.’ – Louise Haines, The Guardian

Praise for KNIGHTLEY & SON: K9

'The perfect case for father-and-son detective team, Knightley & Son' — Sunday Express, Best Children’s Novels Summer 2014

'Young fans of Sherlock Holmes will be happy to see this' — The Bookbag

'A teeth-gnashing thriller... it will have readers howling for a third' – Kirkus

‘A hair-raising adventure… I would highly recommend the trilogy to anyone who loves to get stuck into a great mystery or an action-packed thriller.’ – Louise Haines, The Guardian