HarperCollins Children's Books takes two more from Gregory

HarperCollins Children’s Books has landed two young fiction titles from Philippa Gregory, building on the fairytale world of The Princess Rules.

World rights were secured by editorial director Michelle Misra from Levon Publishing. 

The Princess Rules (HarperCollins Children’s Books), released in November 2019 and since translated into five languages, was made up of three stories originally written in the 1980s by Gregory for her own daughter and reimagined in the new edition for her grandchildren. Like that book, the two new titles will be also be illustrated by Chris Chatterton, with the first book published in October 2020.   

Misra said: “I’ve long admired Philippa’s writing so it was a huge privilege to get to work with her on the reimagining of the original Princess Florizella stories. Funny and empowering, these titles are the perfect fit to join our stellar slate of young fiction titles. I can’t wait to see what happens next in Princess Florizella’s world.”

Gregory is best known for her successful historical novels with other HarperCollins titles including A Respectable Trade, The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen’s Fool.

Gregory said: “It has been such a delight to return to Florizella.  When I created her in the late Eighties I didn’t imagine that, three decades later, there would still be so much for her to say, but despite the progress, we still have a long way to go in tackling the gender ‘rules’ imposed on children. The joy of it has been to take this serious issue and make fun of it. This time, Florizella and Prince Bennett embark upon a new set of adventures with pirates, a beautiful but deadly sea serpent and a kidnapping party, but there’s also a new arrival in the kingdom... Florizella has a brother!”