Doubleday signs Boyne's novel quartet, billed as his 'most powerful work to date'

Doubleday will publish Water, the first of a quartet of interlinked novels named after the elements by John Boyne in November, dubbed his “most ambitious work and powerful to date”. 

Transworld publisher Bill Scott-Kerr acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from literary agent Simon Trewin of Simon Trewin Creative. Water will be published on 2nd November 2023, Earth in May 2024, Fire in November 2024 and finally Air is due in May 2025. 

The blurb reads: “These are four individual stories with four very different narrators, all of whom have either been involved in, complicit with, or found themselves the victims of trauma, and whose experiences have been affected by the elements that give each book its title. And while each can be read as a standalone book, their characters intersect and overlap, their experiences informing the lives of each other. 

“Taken together, this four-book sequence is Boyne’s most ambitious and powerful work to date.” 

Doubleday said: “For almost a quarter century John Boyne’s novels have been treasured by adults and young readers alike."