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HarperCollins Children’s Books signs middle-grade series from Hopkins
HarperCollins Children’s Books has signed three books in a new middle-grade series by Megan Hopkins.
The first book in the Starminster series will publish in paperback original in March 2024, with the second instalment out in March 2025 and book three following in March 2026.
Michelle Misra, publishing director, bought world rights from Rachel Petty at the Blair Partnership.
The synopsis reads: “In Starminster, we meet Astrid, who longs to escape from the candlelit rhubarb shed where she’s been raised by her mother. Her childhood has been lonely and dark but filled with love. When, one night, a mysterious visitor turns up promising Astrid freedom and wings, Astrid follows the stranger to London Overhead – a magical city high in the sky. Astrid wants to grow wings and learn to fly in Starminster, the nocturnal school of flight. She wants to celebrate rainfall and asteroid showers and starlight. Most of all, she wants to belong. But when children start to vanish from beneath the city, stolen by a man with wings, Astrid realises that she might just be the only person who can save them…”
Misra said: “I fell in love with this book the minute I stepped into that rhubarb shed with Astrid. Intriguing and mysterious, it beguiled me from the get-go. Megan has a magical turn of phrase with world-building that is second to none. And who doesn’t dream of flying at some point in their life?”
Nick Lake, fiction publisher, commented: “HarperCollins Children’s Books has a stellar track record of breaking debuts, and I’m delighted to be adding the brilliant Starminster to our powerhouse list of middle-grade brands. I can’t wait to see the books, like their heroine, launch into the skies.”
Hopkins added: “Like most people, I’ve always dreamt of flying, and Starminster was my opportunity to inhabit and expand that dream. The suspended city of London Overhead became very real to me. My greatest hope is that readers will love discovering a world in the sky and joining Astrid on an adventure filled with friendship and enchantment. I’m delighted to work with my wonderful agent Rachel Petty and the incredible team at HarperCollins Children’s Books and can’t wait for Starminster to reach its readers.”
Hopkins is a Northern Irish writer who lives in Kent with her husband and two young children. She is a secondary school English teacher with an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the Open University. She is a member of the Sevenoaks Bookshop Writing Group and was longlisted for WriteMentor’s Novel in Development Award 2022.
