Abandoned Bookshop and Unbound to reissue Duncton Wood

E-book publisher Abandoned Bookshop is teaming up with Unbound to reissue William Horwood’s 1980 novel Duncton Wood.

The book, the first in The Duncton Chronicles, is about two moles called Bracken and Rebecca, who live in a society that worships a religion based on the stone circles of Britain. According to Unbound, the story is an “epic quest for love, grace and power in which Horwood bestows a spell-binding mythology on the dark and mysterious world of moles”.

The books were originally published by Arrow before Horwood withdrew them from sale in 2000 for “personal reasons”.

However, Unbound is now aiming to release the first title in the series, Duncton Wood, in a cloth-bound, hardback edition in 2017 if it can fund the project online. Backers can pledge from £40 for the book only up to £3,000, which is for a special dinner, a Duncton Wood walk and a limited edition hardback.

Abandoned Bookshop will also next year publish the first three books in the series — Duncton Wood, Duncton Quest and Duncton Found — as e-books.

Abandoned Bookshop co-founder and publisher Scott Pack said: “I was given Duncton Wood by a friend as a Christmas gift in the mid-90s. Every year I would be given the next in the series until, when it came to the last book, it was no longer available! I am extremely proud that William has entrusted us with making this magical series of books available for readers once more.”

Horwood added: “For nearly two decades I’ve always said to fans who ask me when Duncton will be back, 'maybe next year…'.  Scott is a persuasive publisher and Unbound the perfect vehicle for a one-off print run. So now I can say, '2017' and mean it.”

Abandoned Bookshop and Unbound said they will also aim to get all six of the books in print, although once the new editions are printed there will be no more copies produced.