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The Dagger and the Flame

In Fantome, a kingdom of cobbled streets, flickering lamplight, beautiful buildings, and secret catacombs, Shade-magic is a scarce and deadly commodity controlled by two enemy guilds: the Cloaks and the Daggers – the thieves and the assassins. On the night of her mother’s murder, 17-year-old Seraphine runs for her life. Seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, Sera’s heart is set on revenge. But are her secret abilities a match for the dark-haired boy whose quicksilver eyes follow her around the city?

Nothing can prepare Sera for the moment she finally comes face-to-face with Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. And Ransom is shocked to discover that this unassuming farmgirl wields a strange and blazing magic he has never seen before…

Among rumours of monsters stalking the streets and the rival guilds grappling for control of Fantome’s underworld, Sera and Ransom are drawn together by something more than just magic and must face a deadly choice – forgiveness or vengeance? Kiss or kill? Dagger or Flame?

Catherine Doyle is an award-winning author of children’s literature, including the best-selling Storm Keeper trilogy and the best-selling Twin Crowns series, co-authored with Katherine Webber. Catherine holds a first-class BA in Psychology and a first-class MA in Publishing. Her published work, which includes ten novels for children and teenagers, has been published all around the world, and translated into over 25 languages. She currently lives in the West of Ireland with her husband Jack and their dog, Cali. Catherine is represented by publishing by Claire Wilson at RCW Literary Agency.

I Am Rebel

“I’m Tom’s dog, and he’s my human. We belong to each other.” 

Rebel is a good dog, and he loves his simple, perfect life on the farm with his owner Tom – until one day the war comes too close… Now Tom is determined to join the rebellion to defeat the king’s men. But Rebel knows war is dangerous, and he will stop at nothing to save the human he loves. Rebel must bring Tom home before it’s too late.

Ross Montgomery started writing stories as a teenager, when he really should have been doing homework, and continued doing so at university. After graduating, he experimented with working as a pig farmer and a postman before deciding to channel these skills into teaching at a primary school. He wrote Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door when he really should have been marking homework. He has since published The Tornado Chasers, Perijee and Me, Max and the Millions and Christmas Dinner of Souls. He has also written the picture books The Building Boy (2016) and Space Tortoise (2018), both illustrated by David Litchfield and published by Faber & Faber. His new novel, The Midnight Guardians, will be published by Walker in September 2020. He lives in Brixton with his girlfriend and many, many dead plants.

The Last Murder at the End of the World

Outside the island there is nothing: the world destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island: it is idyllic. 122 villagers and 3 scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And they learn the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay.

If the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island – and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer – and they don’t even know it.

Stuart is the author of a high-concept crime novel and lives in London with his amazing wife and two little girls, and drinks lots of tea. Stuart’s debut novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, was published in 2018 by Bloomsbury and his second, The Devil and the Dark Water​, in October 2020, which also been under option for Film/TV. He is represented for publishing by Harry Illingworth at DHH Literary Agency. 

Evenfall

Sam is part of an ancient, secret society: an order of quiet heroes who once protected the world. For decades, the Order of the Evening has lain dormant, all but wiped out by those threatened by its existence. But now the Order must rise again. For at the heart of the Order’s lost palace lies a powerful magic; magic that, in the wrong hands, has the power to destroy the world. And an age-old enemy is closing in . . .

Bequeathed with the mysterious seal of the Golden Linnet, Sam must uncover family secrets, face deadly foes and undertake perilous journeys. He will find allies in the most unlikely of places and learn to unlock his true powers. And he will – he must! – prevail.

From Peppa Pig to Hey Duggee, Doctor Who, Pointless (with Richard Osman) and Horrible Histories, he has been creating and telling stories in a variety of capacities for the last two decades. He is represented for publishing by Claire Wilson at RCW Literary Agency.

A Reluctant Spy

*Currently under option*

Jamie Tulloch is a successful exec at a top tech company, a long way from the tough upbringing that drove him to rise so far and so quickly.

But he has a secret…since the age of 23, he’s had a helping hand from the Legend Programme, a secret intelligence effort to prepare impenetrable backstories for undercover agents. Real people, living real lives, willing to hand over their identities for a few weeks in return for a helping hand with plum jobs, influence and access.

When his tap on the shoulder finally comes, it’s swiftly followed by the thud of a body. Arriving at a French airport ready to hand over his identity, Jamie finds his primary contact dead, the agent who’s supposed to step into his life AWOL and his options for escape non-existent.

Pitched into a deadly mission on hostile territory, Jamie must contend with a rogue Russian general, arms dealers, elite hackers, CIA tac-ops and the discovery of a brewing plan for war. Dangerously out of his depth, he must convince his sceptical mission handler he can do the job of a trained field agent while using his own life story as convincing cover.

David is originally from Edinburgh and now lives in East Lothian, by the sea, with his wife and two cats. Sometimes he wanders along the shoreline early in the morning, muttering about spies and spaceships into his dictaphone. He harbours dreams of being a full time shoreline mutterer. For the moment though, he writes short stories and novels very early in the morning and works as a UX designer by day. He’s an enthusiastic member of Edinburgh SFF and the Codex Writers group. When he’s not writing, he can most often be found walking in the Highlands or trying to make a dent in his reading pile. David is represented for publishing by Harry Illingworth at DHH Literary Agency.

 

WRITING ON THE WALL: Graffiti, Rebellion and the Making of Eighteenth Century Britain

‘Fascinating … not only a history of graffiti, but also a history of the 18th century through lost voices of the people who lived through it.’ The Times

‘You’ve read the Austen and seen the Gainsboroughs, well this is the real Eighteenth Century in the words of those who walked the streets, worked the coal seams and clung to the topsail yards” Dan Snow

What if walls could talk? For historian Madeleine Pelling, they can – if you know where to look.

A brilliant new cultural history of the long eighteenth century, Writing on the Wall is told through the marks its citizens left behind, bringing into focus lost voices from the highest to the lowest in society. From the centre of London to the islands of the Caribbean, Pelling goes in search of graffiti, evidence of how ordinary people experienced the world-changing events that defined their lives – from political prisoners to sex workers, homesick sailors, Romantic poets and the artisans of the industrial revolution.

Here are lives, loves, triumphs and failures, scratched into the walls of prisons and latrines, chalked up on doors and etched into windows. The names of their creators may be lost to history, but together they tell the real story of Britain’s most rebellious and transformative century.

 

Madeleine Pelling is a cultural historian, writer and broadcaster. Her first book, Writing on the Wall: Graffiti, Rebellion and the Making of Eighteenth-Century Britain (Profile Books, 2024), tells a history of the period through the marks its inhabitants left behind. It was described as ‘fascinating’ by The Times, and ‘ingenious’ by The Spectator.

Madeleine is the ARIAs-nominated writer and co-host of History Hit’s After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal, and a regular contributor for television and radio, having worked with broadcasters including Channel 4, Sky Arts, Warner Bros and Times Radio.

She holds a PhD from the University of York, and her words appear in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, BBC History Magazine and History Today, as well as in numerous scholarly journals and edited collections.

Artezans: The Forgotten Magic

For the last 400 years, magic has been fading…

Edward Crane has always feared he won’t have any magic at all. Sure, he’s part of a powerful magic Artezan family, but he’s adopted. His twin sister, Elodie, isn’t so worried, but then everything always seems to work out perfectly for her.

So when Ed discovers he does have an Artezan power after all, he’s relieved. And it’s more than he ever could have imagined – in fact, it’s a dream come true.

But the problem with dreams is that sometimes they twist themselves into nightmares. And with Ed’s new abilities growing by the day, there’s a chance that this nightmare will become all too real…

L. D. Lapinski is the best-selling author of JAMIE, Stepfather Christmas, and The Strangeworlds Travel Agency series, including Adventure in the Floating Mountains, which was a 2023 World Book Day title. L. D.’s books are published around the world in fifteen languages, and each book in the Strangeworlds trilogy has been awarded a Kirkus star – one of the most coveted designations in the book industry, marking books of exceptional merit. L. D.’s is represented by Claire Wilson at RCW Literary Agency.

Cloistered

After the shock of her father’s death, and with her family scattered, twenty-four-year old Catherine was left grieving and alone. A search for meaning led her to Roman Catholicism and the nuns of Akenside Priory.

Cloistered takes us beyond the grille of an enclosed monastic world with its tight-knit community of dedicated women. We see Catherine, praying in the spareness of her simple cell, tilling the land or singing at Lauds, a novice who has found peace in an ancient way of life. But as she surrenders to her final vows, all is not as it seems behind the Priory’s closed doors. Power struggles erupt, and the hothouse atmosphere turns to conflict – with far-reaching consequences for those within.

Catherine comes to realise that divine authority is mediated through flawed and all-too-human channels. She is faced with a dilemma: should she protect the serenity she has found, or speak out?
Catherine Coldstream was born in London, and grew up loving music, words, and books. After converting to Roman Catholicism in her twenties, she spent twelve years in a Carmelite monastery where she lived the life of a silent contemplative nun. Since leaving her community she has studied at the Universities of Oxford, East Anglia, and London, and taught theology, philosophy, and ethics in schools. The effects of her years as a nun have. Catherine is represented by Patrick Walsh at PEW Literary Agency.

Seven Days

Your father is on death row. You have seven days to save him. But do you want to?
Alice knows her father is guilty of many things.
He’s guilty of abandoning her.
He’s guilty of being unfaithful to her mother.
But is he guilty of murder?

Now on Death Row, he has seven days to live.
Some people want him released.
Others will kill to keep him just where he is.
Alice has only one chance to save him. But should she?

Robert Rutherford had a random mix of jobs before taking the dive into crime writing; he’s been a bookseller, pizza deliverer, karate instructor, football coach, and HR Manager. He lives on the North East Coast with his wife, children & overly-needy dog, and is a founding member of the Northern Crime Syndicate crime-writers group. WHAT FALLS BETWEEN THE CRACKS, the first in his Porter & Styles series, written under the name Robert Scragg, was a New Writing North pick as one of the 2019 Read Regional books of the year. Rob’s work has also seen him shortlisted for the Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction in 2021, and shortlisted twice for the CWA Short Story Daggers. He is represented by David Headley at DHH Literary Agency.

An Idle Woman: gaslighting in the nineteenth century

1838, England: When eighteen-year-old Frances Dickinson impulsively marries Lieutenant John Geils, all her hopes for her future are quickly shattered as she finds there is much about her husband she did not know. A cruel and violent man, John keeps Frances in isolation on his family’s estate, while spending her fortune and preying upon their maids.

Frances yearns to break free from her marriage but the law is not on her side. Only when John’s abuse escalates can she set in motion a daring plan to secure her freedom.

A story of gaslighting, control and one woman’s fight, An Idle Woman is the true story behind one of the most sensational divorce trials of the nineteenth century.

Wendy Parkins is from Sydney and has held academic posts at universities in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, most recently as Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Kent. She decided to leave academia at the end of 2018 to return to New Zealand to pursue writing full-time. My memoir, Every Morning, So Far, I’m Alive, was published in 2019. In 2018, Parkins moved back to New Zealand to focus on her writing and is currently teaching English Literature and Creative Writing part-time at the University of Otago, Dunedin, and reviews books for leading New Zealand journals and magazines.