Firefly Press snaps up Yvonne Banham’s second Delores Mackenzie book

Firefly Press has acquired The Haunted Life of Delores Mackenzie by Yvonne Banham, the sequel to The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie, which it published in 2023.

Publisher Penny Thomas acquired world rights to the middle grade novel directly from the author, and will publish on 12th September. Illustrator Nathan Collins is to design the cover.

The book’s synopsis reads: “Paranormal students Delores and Prudence are being hounded by inquisitors after they broke the rules and helped rescue a fellow student from death at the hands of an evil spirit. Cruel inquisitor Magoria Jepp is searching for secrets at their home in Edinburgh’s Tolbooth Bookshop. But does she have an uncanny history of her own to hide?

“As Delores tries to save herself and her housemates, she attracts the unwelcome attention of a murderous Boçan, or evil spirit, intent on stealing her paranormal gifts. Can Delores defeat her enemies, and maybe her own family too, to save everyone she loves at the Tolbooth?”

Thomas said: “I love the whole creepy, gothic, sensation-rich world that Yvonne has created around Delores and the Tolbooth Bookshop. With beguiling, original characters, subtle relationships, and a real sense of danger, this is an adventure which even includes a grumpy, sherbet-straw-munching gargoyle with a blue blanket. What’s not to love?”

Banham, who was one of SCBWI’s Undiscovered Voices of 2020 and chosen for Scottish Book Trust and Creative Scotland’s Debut Lab, said: “I had such a great time working on the first Delores Mackenzie book with Penny Thomas and the Firefly team, so it was an absolute joy to find out I’d be working with them on more spooky adventures in Edinburgh’s Old Town. I knew I hadn’t finished causing problems for Delores and it’s been a lot of fun writing some darkly ghoulish new ones.”