Harvill Secker bags First World War thriller

Harvill Secker has snapped up First World War thriller Two Storm Wood by British writer Philip Gray.  

Editorial director for crime and thrillers Jade Chandler acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Nicola Barr at the Bent Agency. The title is set for publication in May 2021. 

Set in France in 1919, Two Storm Wood follows the stories of three British people whose lives have been affected by war in very different ways: a young woman who sets out to find out what happened to her fiancé; a soldier tasked with co-ordinating the retrieval of the dead; and a detective sent to investigate what appears to be a series of murders. 

Gray said: “My grandfather never talked to me about the Great War, although he fought right through the conflict from start to finish. It was only years after his death that I came across the cache of trench maps, journals and military documents that he has carefully saved from that dark time. I started working on Two Storm Wood when the pull of that legacy became impossible to ignore.”

Chandler added: “It’s a spooky, desolate landscape upon which he has set a new series of killings, creating a completely gripping historical thriller with a fantastic backdrop. I loved it.”