Hodder falls under the spell of Kate Hodges’ Macbeth-inspired historical fiction debut

July 10, 2023 Intern BlakeFriedmann

Commissioning editor Lily Cooper from Hodder and Stoughton has pre-empted world all-language rights for Kate Hodges’ debut historical novel, THE WAYWARD SISTERS, from agent Juliet Pickering.

For fans of THE FAMILIARS, THE BINDING and PANDORA, THE WAYWARD SISTERS is a historical intrigue set in 18th century Scotland, which offers a modern, feminist perspective on Macbeth’s Three Witches. The story begins in 1769, the year of Venus’s second transit, when frustrated astronomer Nancy Lockaby is still reeling from the ridicule that her theories on the transit have earned her from her colleagues at the Greenwich Observatory. A mysterious invitation from Shakespearean scholar Caleb Malles to join him as a research fellow in Inverness, gives her a chance of escape. But while Nancy initially finds herself drawn in by Caleb’s eccentric, brilliant mind, when she crosses paths with three crones who warn her that the scholar is hiding dark intentions, Nancy finds herself wondering who she can trust. Especially when the women claim that they have their own relationship with one of the Bard’s greatest works…

Kate Hodges says: ‘I am thrilled to bring the stories of Nancy and the three witches of Macbeth to the world, and to have had the opportunity to explore that period in history when the lines between science and magic were blurred and porous. It’s been magical writing THE WAYWARD SISTERS, and I’m grateful to the team at Hodder for publishing my debut at the perfect time: Halloween!’

Lily Cooper says: ‘THE WAYWARD SISTERS serves up everything I love in a novel – wonderfully chilling atmosphere, a page-turning plot, and characters who speak to our times – with a delicious side-helping of Shakespeare. In her story, Kate interrogates the narrative of Macbeth’s Witches as a representation of evil and chaos, and offers us a fresh, imaginative take on one of literature’s most famous trios through a rollicking adventure that will leave readers under its spell. We’re very excited to be introducing her story to the world this Halloween.’

Juliet Pickering says: ‘I can think of no one better to explore the three women of Macbeth and who they really may have been behind the ‘‘double toil and trouble’’, than Kate and her imagination. THE WAYWARD SISTERS brings them into the spotlight and holds up a mirror to womanhood and power, deftly explored alongside by Nancy Lockaby and her intelligent curiosity. I can’t wait for readers to enjoy this rich, beguiling novel.’

THE WAYWARD SISTERS will be published in hardback, audiobook and eBook on 26th October 2023.

About Kate Hodges

Kate Hodges graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA in Print Journalism. She has over 20 years writing experience on magazines, having been a staffer on publications including The Face, Bizarre, Just Seventeen, Smash Hits and Sky, and written for many more, including The Guardian, Kerrang! and NME. She has also worked for Rapido TV, makers of cult show Eurotrash, and P For Production films. Since June 2012, she’s edited, researched and written the weekly Hopscotch newsletter, a guide for families to the best cheap, fun things happening in London.

She is the author of three books on London, LITTLE LONDON, LONDON IN HOUR, RURAL LONDON, as well as I KNOW A WOMAN, WARRIORS, WITCHES, WOMEN, ON A STARRY NIGHT and ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. Her latest book, WILD WORDS (Portico, October 2021), is a collection of words from around the world which are evocative of the wild.

She has twins, Arthur and Dusty, and lives in Hastings. In her spare time, she plays in bands including The Nuns and The Hare and Hoofe.

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A HISTORY OF WATER by Edward Wilson-Lee makes 2023 James Tait Black Biography Prize shortlist

May 31, 2023 Intern BlakeFriedmann

A HISTORY OF WATER, Edward Wilson-Lee’s astonishing biography of Damião de Góis and Luís de Camões, has been shortlisted for the illustrious 2023 James Tait Black Biography Prize.

The James Tait Black Prizes are the longest-running literary prizes in Britain, with two prizes in total – one for fiction and one for biography.

The other titles shortlisted for this year’s biography prize are: HOMESICK by Jennifer Croft; A LINE IN THE WORLD: A YEAR ON THE NORTH SEA COAST by Dorthe Nors, translated from Danish by Caroline Waight; and COME BACK IN SEPTEMBER: A LITERARY EDUCATION ON WEST SIXTY-SEVENTH STREET, MANHATTEN by Darryl Pinckney.

The titles shortlisted for this year’s fiction prize are as follows: BITTER ORANGE TREE by Jokha Alharthi, translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth, DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver; BOLLA by Pajtim Statovci, translated from Finnish by David Hackston; and AFTER SAPPHO by Selby Wynn Schwartz.

On this year’s biography shortlist, judge Dr Simon Cooke comments: ‘Absorbing, resonantly voiced, and beautifully realised, these life-writings open fascinating and various worlds, and searchingly inquire into the transformative relations between literature and life.’

The winners of both prizes will be announced by the University of Edinburgh in July. Past winners of the biography prize include the likes of Martin Amis, Claire Tomalin and Doireann Ní Ghríofa.

A Times Literary Supplement ‘Book of the Year’ as well as one of The Times ‘Best History Books of 2022’, A HISTORY OF WATER follows the interconnected lives of two men across the renaissance globe. One of them, Damião de Góis – an aficionado of mermen and Ethiopian culture, an art collector, historian and expert on water-music – returned home from witnessing the birth of the modern age to lock himself in the Torre de Tombo, the first great national archive of Europe, before dying in a mysterious incident, apparently the victim of a grisly and curious murder. The other, Luís de Camões – a ruffian, vagabond and braggart, chased across the globe from Mozambique to Japan – ends up becoming the national poet of Portugal.

The stories of Damião de Góis and Luís de Camões capture the extraordinary wonders that awaited Europeans on their arrival in India and China, the challenges these marvels presented to longstanding beliefs, and the vast conspiracy to silence the questions these posed about the nature of history and of human life. In vividly charting those struggles, Edward Wilson-Lee resurrects de Góis’ fluid and dynamic vision of history. A history whose currents endlessly rise up and converge, turbulent, sonorous, and powerful.

A HISTORY OF WATER was first published to great acclaim in hardback by William Collins in August 2022, and the paperback edition will be published in August this year.

About Edward Wilson-Lee

Edward Wilson-Lee is a Fellow in English at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he teaches medieval and Renaissance literature. After growing up in Kenya and Switzerland, he went to university in London, New York, Oxford and Cambridge, living briefly in Mexico and New Orleans in between.

His previous books SHAKESPEARE IN SWAHILILAND and THE CATALOGUE OF SHIPWRECKED BOOKS have been widely acclaimed, published in the UK and US, and translated into 11 languages.

Praise for A HISTORY OF WATER

‘A very few times in the course of a reader's life a book appears that shatters one's assumptions about how and why things came to pass. A HISTORY OF WATER is one such book. A mind-blowing achievement.’ – Alberto Manguel

‘This book is itself something of a wonder: beautifully written and utterly mesmerising. I loved every page.’ – Jessie Childs, The Sunday Times

‘A wonderful – and wonder-full – recreation of a crucial episode in European history… The book also has a rare beauty; written with elegant restraint, its every page is rich in numinous sense of vanishings and misunderstandings, gaps in the records, marvels and mysteries… hauntingly vivid’ – Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph

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PICTURE YOU DEAD climbs the bestseller charts in first full week of sale, landing at Number 2

May 26, 2023 Intern BlakeFriedmann

Peter James’s PICTURE YOU DEAD has flown to Number 2 in the Sunday Times paperback bestseller chart in its first full week of sale. Last week, it went straight to Number 3 after only three days on sale. Fans of Peter’s work – and of his brilliant hero Detective Superintendent Roy Grace – have raced to buy the eighteenth entry in the series, with thousands of positive reader reviews posted online.

‘There really is never a dull moment in this latest Roy Grace mystery thriller,’ writes CeeCee on GoodReads, ‘told at a brisk pace with plenty of plot twists and turns with an added amounts of mayhem, shenanigans, ruthlessness and sheer greed to keep your reading on.’

‘Although Picture you Dead is book eighteen in the series, the characters are so well written and described that it really doesn't matter if you start here. In fact, it's a great introduction,’ adds Val Wheeler, ‘the great thing is now I know I enjoyed it so much, I have another seventeen in the series and many others to catch up on.’

As well as the thrills of PICTURE YOU DEAD, Peter James fans can look forward to his upcoming events ‘An Evening with Peter James’ at the Ropetackle Centre in Sussex on 3rd June, and ‘The Sinister Everyday: The Fact And Fiction Of Crime Writing’ at the inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Hampton Court Palace on the 11th of June, as well as the ongoing stage tour of the gripping WISH YOU WERE DEAD adaptation.

In PICTURE YOU DEAD, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace finds himself plunged into an unfamiliar world of fine art – and art forgery. Outwardly the fine art scene appears respectable, refined, above reproach. But beneath the veneer, he rapidly finds that greed, deception and violence walk hand-in-hand.

Harry and Freya, an ordinary couple, dreamed for years of finding something priceless buried amongst the tat in a car boot sale. It was a dream they knew in their hearts would never come true – until the day it did… They buy a drab portrait for a few pounds, for its beautiful frame, planning to cut the painting out. Then studying it back at home there seems to be another picture beneath, of a stunning landscape. Could it be a long-lost masterpiece from 1770? If genuine, it could be worth millions. One collector is certain that the painting is genuine. Someone who will use any method he can to get what he wants and will stop at nothing.

And Harry and Freya are about to discover that their dream is turning into their worst nightmare…

Five more books in the bestselling Roy Grace series have been signed up by Pan Macmillan, including the nineteenth Roy Grace story, STOP THEM DEAD, which will be published in the UK on 28 September 2023 and in the US on 24 October 2023.

About Peter James

Peter James is the international bestselling author of many award-winning novels, repeatedly occupying the Number One slot on the Sunday Times bestseller charts in both hardback and paperback. Peter writes both thriller standalones and the hugely popular Brighton-set Roy Grace series, now adapted for ITV.

Peter’s books have been translated into thirty-eight languages, with worldwide sales of over twenty-one million copies and his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, set in Brighton, has given him nineteen Sunday Times Number Ones. In 2015 WH Smith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award. Peter James has also written two books based on true crime stories, with former senior detective Graham Bartlett.

Successful nationwide tours of the stage plays of THE PERFECT MURDER (2014), DEAD SIMPLE (2015,) NOT DEAD ENOUGH (2017), THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL (2019) and LOOKING GOOD DEAD (2022) have packed theatres in dozens of British cities, and garnered magnificent reviews. The stage play of WISH YOU WERE DEAD is currently touring the UK. Several other Peter James novels are optioned for film and in further development.

Praise for PICTURE YOU DEAD

‘Whether your loved one is a fan of Grace (either in the book or TV show format), or just loves a good police procedural, PICTURE YOU DEAD won’t disappoint.’ – Darren Hardy, Amazon Editors’ Choice

‘The latest instalment in the Roy Grace series of mystery novels is also a personal favourite. James is a solid writer – character, action, and plot are perfectly balanced in this fantastic and gripping novel. If you haven’t read Peter James, make 2023 your resolution to start.’ – Andrew Gulli, The Strand Magazine, ‘Top 25 Mystery Novels of 2022’

Praise for Peter James

‘If you have never read Peter James’ crime thriller series about the Sussex detective Roy Grace, I would highly recommend you give it a try.’ – Queen Camilla, Press and Journal

‘Peter James is one of the most fiendishly clever crime fiction plotters.’ – The Daily Mail

‘Roy Grace ... is fast becoming one of the more memorable coppers in modern crime fiction ... A first class police procedural.’ – The Times

‘James just gets better and better and deserves the success he has achieved with this first-class series.’ – Independent on Sunday

‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Karin Slaughter

‘Probably the closest we’ll get to a British Stephen King’ – The Financial Times

‘Peter James is one of the most fiendishly clever crime fiction plotters’ – The Daily Mail

‘In uncertain times, I always tend to fall back on old, familiar favourites, so I’ll be reading Peter James’ Roy Grace series. They are thrillers with enough drama to keep you guessing. Reading a well-crafted mystery gives me a sense of accomplishment – almost as if I’ve solved everything myself!’ – Emma Shacklock, Books Editor, Women & Home Magazine

‘Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business’ – Lee Child

‘A master plotter.’ – The Bookseller

‘James has been compared with Stephen King, but in many ways he's better’ – Daily Express

‘This compulsive horror story is a tale of the search for immortality . . . I cannot remember when I last read a novel I enjoyed so much’ – Sunday Telegraph

‘A thought-provoking menacer that’s completely technological and genuinely frightening about the power of future communications’ – Time Out

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Zakes Mda nominated for African Genius Awards

May 24, 2023 Intern BlakeFriedmann

We are delighted that acclaimed author Zakes Mda has been nominated for the 2023 African Genius Awards.

The Awards were established in 2021 and are run by Priority Performance Projects, which is part of Plus 94 Research, a South African black-owned research company. They aim to honour exceptional Africans who espouse the values that will take the continent forward, with criteria including demonstrable contribution to problem solving, leadership and inspirational qualities, exceptional skills, outstanding contributions relevant to the community or society, and official recognition such as awards, honours and prestigious appointments.

The other nominees come from a wide range of fields and include Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (the first woman president of Mauritius), Oscar winning actress Lupita Amondi Nyong’o and Nobel Peace Prize winners Leymah Gbowee and Ouided Bouchamaoui. The full list can be found here. The three winners will be named on May 25, Africa Day, in a ceremony that will be streamed live from the University of Pretoria.

Zakes Mda’s latest novel, WAYFARER’S HYMNS was published by Umuzi in 2021 and was included in Brittle Paper’s ‘50 Notable African Books of 2021’ list.

Praise for Zakes Mda

‘A voice for which one should feel not only affection but admiration’ – The New York Times

‘Mda’s lyrical tale defies easy categorization and enters the realm of pure magic.’ – John Updike

‘Combines Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magic realism and political astuteness with satire, social realism and a critical re-examination of the South African past.’ – The New York Times Book Review

‘Lyricism, vividness and dark, tragic wit have earned the author recognition here and in his homeland.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘The great South African novelist of his generation, a writer rich in both imagination and ironic political attitude.’ – The Philadelphia Inquirer

About Zakes Mda

Zakes Mda is the pen name of Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda. He is a South African, Lesotho and Appalachian American-African writer, painter, and music composer. He holds an MFA (Theatre) and an MA (Telecommunications) from Ohio University, and a PhD from the University of Cape Town. There have been recent successful exhibitions of his work in the US and South Africa and his paintings are bought by collectors around the world.

He has published more than twenty books, ten of which are novels and the rest collections of plays, poetry and a monograph on the theory and practice of theatre-for-development. His novel CION, set in southeast Ohio, was nominated for the NAACP Image Award. His memoir SOMETIMES THERE IS A VOID: MEMOIRS OF AN OUTSIDER was published by Farrar Straus and Giroux and was a New York Times Notable Book for 2012. He has won many prestigious literary awards in South Africa.

He divides his time between the USA and South Africa. He is Professor Emeritus of English at Ohio University, lecturer in Creative Writing at Johns Hopkins University and Extraordinary Professor of English at the University of the Western Cape. In South Africa he is a patron of the Market Theatre and director of the Southern African Multimedia AIDS Trust. He also runs a beekeeping project he established in 2000 with rural women of the Eastern Cape and is a director of NeoZane, a publishing house and animation film production company in Johannesburg.

Follow Zakes on Twitter.

Another bestseller for Peter James’ Roy Grace series with PICTURE YOU DEAD

May 19, 2023 Intern BlakeFriedmann

PICTURE YOU DEAD – the 18th instalment of Peter James’ barnstorming Roy Grace series – has leaped to Number Three in the Paperback Fiction chart, and Number Four in the overall UK Bestsellers list, after only three days on sale.

The Roy Grace series has continued to go from strength to strength in 2023, with the latest bestseller adding to the plaudits received for the third-year showing of the hugely successful ITV adaptation and the latest touring stage show, bringing WISH YOU WERE DEAD to audiences around the country.

The GRACE momentum continues with a fourth season of the ITV show due on screens in 2024 and with all the episodes to date streaming on BritBox in many countries across the world. The WISH YOU WERE DEAD theatre production continues to tour the UK with further dates in Salford, Dartford, Southampton, Malvern, Birmingham, Sheffield, Southend, Worthing, Leicester and Woking.

And Harry and Freya are about to discover that their dream is turning into their worst nightmare…

Peter will be out to meet fans and sign more books again soon, with two headline events planned: ‘An Evening with Peter James’ at the Ropetackle Centre in Sussex on 3rd June, and ‘The Sinister Everyday: The Fact And Fiction Of Crime Writing’ at the inaugural Queen’s Reading Room Festival at Hampton Court Palace on the 11th of June.

About Peter James

Peter’s books have been translated into thirty-eight languages, with worldwide sales of over twenty-one million copies and his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series, set in Brighton, has given him 18 consecutive Sunday Times Number Ones. In 2015 WH Smith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award. Peter James has also written two books based on true crime stories, with former senior detective Graham Bartlett.