Gollancz falls for Hall’s Regency love letter Mortal Follies

Gollancz has signed Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall, described as a “sapphic Regency love letter”.

Editorial director Bethan Morgan acquired UK and Commonwealth print, digital and audio rights, excluding Canada, in a two-book deal from Rachel Kind at Penguin Random House.

Mortal Follies will match the US publication in hardback, e-book and audiobook on 6th June 2023, followed by a spin-off standalone set in the same world in 2024.

Mortal Follies is Hall’s first foray into "romantasy", the publisher says, “combining his beloved mastery of queer romance and British Regency history with an irresistibly puckish, folkloric fantasy world that roots his cast of characters in a 19th-century landscape teeming with woodland gods, witches, pixies, dryads, druids and hobgoblins.”

The synopsis reads: “It is the year 1814 and Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into the highest society of Bath hindered by an irritating curse. It begins innocuously enough, with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening at the ball of the season, a scandal she only narrowly manages to escape.

“However, as the curse progresses to far more fatal proportions, she realises she must seek out urgent assistance, even if that means mixing with the most undesirable company – and there are few less desirable allies than the brooding Lady Georgiana Landrake – who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune. If one is to believe the gossip, she might be some kind of malign enchantress. Then again, a malign enchantress might be exactly what Miss Mitchelmore needs”.

Morgan said: “If you’ve ever wanted your regularly scheduled Bridgerton binge just a little (or a lot) more queer with a little (or a lot) more magic... look no further.

“From the ingeniously wrought shape-shifting hobgoblin follower of fairy king Oberon narrating the tale to the slowburn of the love story at its heart, it’s impossible to read this book and not find your faith in humanity restored. Entertainment Weekly characterised Alexis in a profile last June as ‘a contemporary Oscar Wilde’ – you only need a couple of sentences, if that, to find out why.”

Hall’s previous books include Boyfriend Material and Husband Material (Sourcebooks Casablanca).