One of the challenging things about publishing, which I’ve known in theory and am only just coming to understand in practise, is that as an author, you’re always writing a Secret Thing. And I don’t mean secret in a ‘I signed an NDA/the contract isn’t finished/my agent and editor will hit me over the head with their keyboards if I talk about it’ business sense. I mean in the way that a seed underground is secret, to become known only when it unfurls from the earth, its sense of self already determined from its time below the soil.
It’s secret because books take a long time. Sometimes it’s too early to talk about the Secret Thing because it’s really just two scenes and a character who you’ve been describing as having the dress sense of a sexy undertaker, but nothing else, and you want to hold the story to your chest for a little longer. Sometimes you don’t want to talk about it because you’re currently wrestling a plot problem (or maybe the Plot Problem) and, quite frankly, you’re thinking about throwing your laptop into the nearest river and handing over your writing credentials to someone more worthy. Sometimes key beats that you’re dying to talk about won’t make it into the final draft because they turn out to not be quite right for this book, and then you worry over who has witnessed you being a Fool for your confidence in what has turned out to be organic story soup and thus prone to spillage.
But when you finally get to talk about the Secret Thing, it’s such a delightful experience.
This is my Secret Thing, striving for the sunlight. I’m so excited to finally talk about The Bookshop Below, which is my next fantasy novel, publishing in February 2025. This is a book born from my love and experience of bookshops, both as the outsider and as the one handing over the book to a customer. It’s also born of the joy – sometimes complicated – that comes from working with books. There’s deadly ink magic, rival booksellers, a murder mystery, romance, stubborn fairytales, and more.
For a little bit about the plot…
If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron's bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it's a glimpse into a world of deadly bargains and powerful, magical books.
For Cassandra Fairfax, it's a reminder of everything she lost, when Chiron kicked her out and all but shuttered the shop. Since then, she's used her skills in less . . . ethical ways, trading stolen books and magical readings to wealthy playboys looking for power money can't buy.
Then Chiron dies. And if Cassandra knows anything, it's this: the bookshop must always have an owner.
To restore the shop, she'll need the help of Lowell Sharpe, a rival bookseller who is everything Cassandra is not – and knows it, too.
But as she is plunged into a world of unscrupulous collectors, deadly ink magic and shady societies, a dark force threatens to unravel the bookshops entirely . . .
I’m so, so looking forward to sharing this book with you. If you’re feeling like a keen bean, please feel free to add it to your Goodreads TBR.
In the meantime, I’ve loved hearing from readers of The City of Stardust! Several foreign language editions are making their way out into the world, including French, Italian, Spanish and Polish editions, with German to come. In the US, it’s on its third printing, which seems exceptionally wild to me.
There are still events to come, including one on 4th July at Waterstones Whiteley, as well as those yet to be announced. Exciting times ahead!
Other things
As I’m currently on an edit deadline, I’m reading with all the feral secretiveness of a raccoon rummaging through someone’s bin. I’ve been gloriously rereading faves like Beach Read by Emily Henry and the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. There’s just something about rereading an old fave that feels like sinking into a perfect bath.
I’ve also dipped into some new reading, like The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden and Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde. Both excellent, chewy reads! I absolutely loved Writers & Lovers by Lily King, too, as well as Bride by Ali Hazelwood. It’s been a really delicious few months of reading.