Mantle snaps up Hinchcliffe's 'gripping' gothic

Mantle has snapped up Hare House, a “gripping” contemporary gothic novel by Sally Hinchcliffe.

Publisher Maria Rejt bought UK and Commonwealth rights to the book from Euan Thorneycroft at A M Heath, for publication as a lead title in spring 2022.

The blurb explains: “For readers of The Silent Companions and The Loney, Hare House is the story of a teacher who moves to the wilds of Scotland after leaving her job at an all-girls school in London in mysterious circumstances. Renting one of the ancient cottages on the remote Estate of Hare House, she begins to explore her new home—a patchwork of hills, moorland and forest—and encounters her unsettling neighbours. As she begins to suspect that something sinister is lurking inside the wildly beautiful landscape it seems that local tales of witchcraft, clay figurines and young men sent mad, may hold more than a grain of truth.”

Rejt said: “I’m delighted that Sally’s new novel will be a lead title for Mantle in the Spring of 2022. Set in the beautiful, isolated Scottish wilderness—which is wonderfully evoked—it is a chilling Gothic House mystery where strange events begin to overtake the lives of its inhabitants and make Hare House a thrilling, one-sitting read.”

Hinchcliffe added: "I'm delighted to be working with Maria and excited to be on Mantle's list. As someone drawn to the outsider's perspective it feels like the perfect home for my writing and particularly for Hare House."