Angry Robot bags Hardaker’s ‘unsettling’ second novel

Angry Robot has bagged Mothtown from the “queen of creepy speculative fiction” Caroline Hardaker. 

Publisher Eleanor Teasdale also acquired world English and audio rights from Ed Wilson at Johnson & Alcock. The novel will be published on 14th November 2023 featuring some illustrations by award-winning illustrator Chris Riddell.

Recently nominated for the Kitschies Awards for her début novel Composite Creatures (Angry Robot), Hardaker’s second novel is a “dark, allegorical tale that plays with our perceptions of the world”. 

The synopsis reads: “David is growing up in a world where something is very badly wrong, but everyone is protecting David from knowing what it is. People are going missing, bodies are showing up with wings, or bones in nests if you believe the rumours from the kids at school. David doesn’t really know because his parents turn off the news whenever he might get a handle on what is happening around him and his older sister just doesn’t seem interested in sharing. Most importantly for David, the centre of his world – his grandfather – is gone. His parents say he is dead but why is his grandfather’s backpack and jumper missing from the house? Alongside this we have a man abandoned in a hostile landscape and trying to outrun nature itself to get back home with some information. Mothtown is weird, horrifying and latches hold of you, sometimes it grows from within you.”

Wilson said: “Caroline Hardaker is the queen of creepy speculative fiction: her prose flows like poetry, then pulls the rug out from under you. Mothtown will cement her reputation as the Geordie Shirley Jackson, and build on her much-deserved Kitschie Award nomination for Composite Creatures. We’re delighted to continue this journey with Eleanor and the team at Angry Robot, who saw her talent from day one.” 

“I have loved Caroline’s writing since I first saw it as an agent way back when, and getting to buy this second book is a true thrill for me,” added Teasdale. “Mothtown will haunt your memories; she’s such a confident writer and I hope this book gets on every award list going, because it deserves it.” 

Hardaker added: “I’m thrilled that Mothtown has found a home with the always-innovative Angry Robot. A strange and surrealist story of transformation, parallel worlds and silent mudmen who trudge the streets by night, Mothtown is written for anyone who has ever felt like they’re born in the wrong place.”