HarperFiction lands haunting tale of witchcraft from Cooke 

HarperFiction has secured two more gothic thrillers from C J Cooke.

Kimberley Young, m.d. and publisher, bought British Commonwealth rights, including Canada, for The Book of Witching from Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown in a two-book deal. Going forward, C J Cooke will be edited by Martha Ashby, publishing director.

Set on Orkney, The Book of Witching opens with a terrible discovery on an idyllic beach in Fynhallow Bay: a teenage boy has been burned to death, a girl is missing, and another girl is in hospital and remembers just one thing – that she is Nyx. But her mother won’t give up on bringing her back to reality, and travels back to that remote beach where she starts to uncover a centuries old secret of witchcraft that may just be the key to saving her daughter… Will Fynhallow Bay give up its secrets before someone else dies?

Cooke said: “The Book of Witching explores the political dynamics at play in what was undoubtedly one of the very worst witch trials in Scotland, if not Europe. With these next two books, I hope to take readers on a journey through an atmospheric world steeped in folklore and magic, while also re-examining what the word ’witch’ means, and how hope can triumph in the darkest times.”

Ashby said: “C J’s dark, atmospheric and fiercely feminist novels are books to savour and she continues to lead the field in haunting, gothic fiction.”