You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Gollancz has won a three-way auction for epic fantasy debut The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver by Scottish writer Rafael Torrubia.
Editorial director Bethan Morgan acquired world English rights in a two-book deal from Jamie Cowen at The Ampersand Agency. Publication is planned for summer 2025 in hardback, export trade paperback, e-book and audiobook, followed by the sequel in 2026.
The synopsis says: “No one remembers the calamity that killed the gods and stole the names of their people. Now Shipwright and Shroudweaver are known only by their professions. She’s a master of magical shipbuilding. He’s a maker of the gilded gods that fuel their sails, stitched from the souls of dead sailors.
“When a chance to save their world sets the horizon alight, they decide they’ll stop at nothing to vanquish the ultimate evil, embarking on a deadly race against time to beat a grief-wracked sorceress to the notorious mountain kingdom in the legend-infested north before she unleashes the ancient evil entombed at its heart – the one that could destroy them all.”
Morgan said: “From the second I joined Gollancz I started shouting from every available rooftop about how I was on the hunt for the epic fantasy of my dreams. I’ll never forget the meeting when Jamie first told me about Rafael’s extraordinary world, the entirety of which I spent feverishly scribbling down electric phrases like ‘Le Guinian magic’ and ‘queerness everywhere’ and ‘SCOTLAND’. I then promptly inhaled the tome in question in just a handful of sittings (featuring fair amounts of excited standing and even more excited pacing) and knew with an instant and numinous certainty that I needed to publish this book. I’m so honoured Rafael chose us.”
Torrubia said: “I am delighted that The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver has found safe harbour with Gollancz. I can’t think of a better editor than Bethan Morgan to guide this wild, beautiful voyage, nor a better agent than Jamie Cowen, who has been the lighthouse that called these stories home.”