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HarperNorth has acquired the rights to Daniel Aubrey’s debut novel, Dark Island, which centres on neurodivergent reporter Freya Sinclair, and two further novels.
Commissioning editor Daisy Watt acquired world English rights from Ella Kahn at the Diamond Kahn & Woods Literary Agency in a four-way auction. French rights were sold to Le Masque/J C Lattes, Swedish to Lind & Co and Ukrainian rights to Laboratory. HarperNorth will publish Dark Island in April 2024, as the first of three in the new Orkney Mysteries series.
Dark Island is set in midwinter, where only six hours of daylight interrupt the darkness over Orkney. When a body is discovered on the small archipelago’s wild Atlantic coast, Sinclair "finds herself in a race against time to catch a killer, all while awaiting her autism diagnosis. Both the investigation and the diagnosis will come with more twists and turns than she’d hoped…”
Watt said: “A small Scottish island where the days are getting shorter and shorter: can you imagine a better location for a ticking-clock suspense? With Dark Island Daniel announces himself as a writer with a formidable gift for atmospheric, tightly plotted, twisty storytelling, and Freya is a protagonist I’d follow anywhere. Daniel’s nuanced portrayal of Freya’s experiences will help to normalise those of many neurodivergent people during the often lengthy and challenging process of diagnosis.”
Aubrey said: “Daisy Watt really understood Freya and the story I wanted to tell, and I felt from the first time we spoke that she was the right person to help me make this series a success.”
Kahn added: “Daniel Aubrey is a very talented author, and I’m so excited to see his stunningly atmospheric, emotionally powerful and gripping new crime series flourish in the care of Daisy Watt and her team.”
Aubrey is a former journalist based in Scotland. Dark Island was inspired by his obsession with all things Orcadian – he is working towards an MLitt in Orkney and Shetland Studies from the Institute of Northern Studies in Kirkwall – and by his experience of being diagnosed as autistic and ADHD in his early forties.