Jordan Lees discusses his fantastical children's début novel set in a labyrinthine world

Jordan Lees’ début children’s fantasy, The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found, has been on an incredible journey over this past year. In October 2022, publication was announced by Puffin, which acquired three books in a massive seven-figure pre-empt, and it was revealed at the Frankfurt Book Fair foreign rights had been sold in 10 languages, with auctions taking place in France, Italy, Greece and more.

Though in reality The Whisperwicks, a novel about a boy who falls into a magical, labyrinthine world and goes on a quest to find a missing child, is the culmination of a process that has been brewing for a much longer period of time. Lees, a self-confessed quiet and bookish child, first began writing a book about a magical doll (Benjamiah, the hero of The Whisperwicks, has a “poppet”) as a teenager, and he then spent 10 years living in that imaginary world. An early attempt at getting the story on paper in his early 20s didn’t work, but about four years ago he got a draft down on paper and the journey to getting a massive publishing deal was set in motion.

What I really wanted to do was capture the spirit of the books that I loved as a kid

In the book, the first in a trilogy, 11-year-old Benjamiah is sent a doll, at his home in a bookshop in a quiet, sleepy town. This poppet leads him into Wreathenwold where, after a brief and frightening encounter with the Hanged Men, a sort of faceless police force, he ends up in the home of Hansel and Elizabella. Elizabella is preparing to leave to hunt for her missing brother, and Benjamiah decides he wants to help. The story is mysterious and fantastical, and Lees was influenced by the children’s novelists he enjoyed as a child. “What I really wanted to do was capture the spirit of the books that I loved as a kid, so certainly Neil Gaiman. Also His Dark Materials and Harry Potter, of course,” he says. There were some adult writers, like Italo Calvino, whose “strange, magical stories” also made their mark on the young author.

Labyrinthine plot

In terms of building the world, Lees decided to make the world of Wreathenwold a labyrinth for the opportunities it offered in terms of adventure, but there is a deeper meaning, too.  

“Life does feel full of choices… and when you make a choice, you don’t know if it’s the right one as well,” he says. “I think that’s quite a strong image for children,” he says, because life is bigger than we can possibly imagine when we are small.

If a book has a child character who is leading, it’s obviously going to be positioned as a children’s book, but I want adults to enjoy it as well

The Whisperwicks has moments of of lightness and fun—one of the best characters is, for example, a helpful, magical string called Ariadne—but some aspects of the story are utterly terrifying. There are the previously mentioned Hanged Men, as well as a repulsive villain who tries to steal the colour from the heroes’ eyes. The novel really does read like a book that can be enjoyed by any fantasy fan of nine and above, not just the middle-grade market. Lees agrees, pointing out that Philip Pullman once said that Northern Lights was a book about children [rather than a book for children], and “there is something like that in this, too. If a book has a child character who is leading, it’s obviously going to be positioned as a children’s book, but I want adults to enjoy it as well.”

There is also a massive twist—one which, if revealed here, would ruin readers’ enjoyment of the story—but suffice to say it’s one that will shock. Coming through that event takes a lot of courage from the protagonists, says Lees, who as a child had to deal with some difficult events himself. One brother had a motorcycle accident, and the other was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. “It’s hard for children to talk when they are afraid or really sad… I think one of the key lessons of the book is [when the children] find a way to say to each other what’s hurting them and what they are afraid of.”

Ultimately, Elizabella and Benjamiah’s friendship pulls them through, which is a valuable lesson in life for all of us. The Whisperwicks will be released in March with 10 full-page illustrations from Vivienne To, and although Lees is obviously happy his book has been so well received, the process of becoming a children’s author is somewhat frightening, even for someone who has been working as an agent at The Blair Partnership for seven years. In some respects, the journey has been “terrifying”, he says.

“You feel it a bit when you are an agent, because you are nervous on behalf of your authors when you send their book to publishers. You also feel happy when it goes well for them. But that’s a lot more intense as an author. It’s been quite a lesson for me.”

While he waits for publication, he has a plan to visit as many bookshops up and down the country as possible, and is also working on the manuscript for the second book in the series, a draft of which, at the time of this interview, had just been delivered to editor Carmen McCullough. In this one Benjamiah goes once again to Wreathenwold and the journey he and Elizabella go on is based on a book of magical fairytales. Two new friends join them, as well as new villains, and there is a journey of a different kind through the labyrinth.