You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Farshore signs two-book deal with Driver
Farshore has bought Dreamstalkers, the epic new fantasy series from award-winning middle-grade author Sarah Driver.
Liz Sellen-Bankes, editorial director, bought UK and Commonwealth rights for two books from Jodie Hodges at United Agents. It will be the third series by Driver to be published by Farshore.
Dreamstalkers follows 12-year-old Bea, who lives with her mother Ula and her owl Pip in a cottage on the wild moors. The blurb reads: “Everyone is leaving their settlement because of the affliction of nightmares that is sweeping across the lands. But when Ula grows sick with the affliction, she won’t leave – and she’s keeping a secret from Bea. Just as Bea begins to despair, the mysterious Night Train steams across the moors, bringing a stranger who offers Bea the chance to save her mother. Bea is flung into a faraway adventure in the world of the Dreamstalkers, skilled warriors and performers who must go to work each night inside the dreams of the powerful. But the nightmares are following close behind.”
Dreamstalkers: The Night Train is the first book in this “gripping and enchanting series, perfect for readers aged eight to 12”, Farshore said. It is scheduled for February 2024, with book two to follow in early 2025.
Driver is a graduate of the Bath Spa Writing for Young People MA, during which she won the United Agents Most Promising Writer prize. She is the author of the fantasy adventure trilogy The Huntress and the middle grade series Once We Were Witches (both published by HarperCollins).
Driver said: “We have all been shaped by night and darkness, the way our reality shifts as the day fades, and the ancient stories that dwell in the dark. Dreamstalkers is (quite literally) the project of my dreams, which for half a decade I have hoped to have the chance to develop.
“It has been an amazing experience working with the brilliant team at Farshore to turn another spark into a story.”
Sellen-Bankes said: “Sarah’s vivid world-building and lyrical, accessible writing has won the hearts of her loyal fanbase – and this epic and magical series is her most exciting yet. Working with an author with such an amazingly creative mind as Sarah’s is, fittingly, an absolute dream. We cannot wait for middle grade readers everywhere to meet fierce, flawed hero Bea and get utterly swept away in the captivating world of Dreamstalkers.”
Hodges of United Agents said: “A supportive, ongoing relationship with a publisher is what I’m always hoping to achieve for my authors, and so it’s a joy to have signed up this third series between Sarah and Farshore. Long may they make book magic together.”
