Discoveries Prize long-listed author India-Rose Bower's spooky debut goes to Penguin Michael Joseph

Penguin Michael Joseph has acquired the horror debut, We Call Them Witches, of 2023 Discoveries Prize long-listed author India-Rose Bower.

Publisher Joel Richardson and assistant editor Jorgie Bain bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown. The novel will be published in early 2026. Rights have also sold to Sourcebooks in North America, and to Salani in Italy by Kelly Karczewski at UTA and Emma Jamison at Curtis Brown, who are handling US and foreign rights respectively.

Set in the misty countryside of Yorkshire, and richly inspired by Pagan folklore, We Call Them Witches is set in a post-apocalyptic Britain. The story follows Sara and her misfit family as they try to survive. Sara discovers a girl outside their warded perimeters one morning with no explanation of how she got there and finds both love and uncertainty in this new stranger’s presence.

Bower said: "This book is an ode to all the scary twisty trees that scared me growing up and all the spooky stories I was told as a child. I’m so glad it scared the wonderful team at Penguin Michael Joseph, and I can’t wait for other people to meet Sara and step into the nightmare I made for her."

The acquiring editors at Penguin Michael Joseph called it "a truly original story that hits all the notes a horror reader wants, terrifying monsters, heart-stopping moments, gut-wrenching tragedy, and a sense of something to live for".

In 2023, Bower was long-listed by the Discoveries Award, a writing development prize and programme for aspiring female novelists, run by Women’s Prize Trust and supported by Curtis Brown and Audible.