Atlantic Books pre-empts 'extraordinary and comprehensive' Swedish book on black holes

Atlantic Books has pre-empted an "extraordinary and comprehensive" Swedish book on black holes.

Group non-fiction publisher Ed Faulkner pre-empted world English rights in Jonas Enander’s Facing the Darkness: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth from Steve White at Nordin Agency. The book will be published in hardback, trade paperback and e-book in September 2025.

Enander has a PhD in physics, and has conducted research in cosmology and astrophysics. He works as a science communicator at the Oskar Klein Centre in Stockholm, and participated in the construction of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole, Antarctica.

The synopsis states: "From the 18th-century vicar who was the first to look up at the night’s sky and suggest there was something very dark and extraordinarily heavy that was moving the stars, to the first actual photograph of a black hole, 250 years later, Jonas Enander has travelled the world, visited telescopes and observatories, interviewed space researchers, and delved deep into the archives to investigate how our relationship with black holes has changed over time."

Enander said: "I’ve put my heart and soul into [this book], with the goal of telling a modern story about the latest black hole research and how it relates to our lives on Earth."

Faulkner added: "Jonas Enander is a fascinating and enlightening guide to the enduring mystery and majesty of black holes and this book literally contains multitudes – the whole history of science, the universe, everything, all presented through the prism of black holes."