Head of Zeus finds its missing Link in The Book of Love début

Head of Zeus has scooped The Book of Love, the "long-awaited" first novel from the multiple-award winning science fiction and fantasy writer, publisher and bookseller Kelly Link.

Managing director Nicolas Cheetham acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, at auction, from Rachel Clements at Abner Stein on behalf of Renée Zuckerbrot at Massie McQuilkin. The novel will be published in February 2024 on Head of Zeus’ SFF list, Ad Astra. Zuckerbrot sold rights in North America to Link’s long-term US publisher, Random House. 

Miami-born Link is an editor of multiple anthologies and the author of the collections White Cat, Black Dog; Pretty Monsters; and Get in Trouble, among others. She has been awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant, won one Hugo and three Nebula awards, while Get in Trouble was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Now based in western Massachusetts, Link is also the co-founder of SFF specialist publisher Small Beer Press and independent bookshop Black Moon.   

The Book of Love begins with "supernatural beings and chaos descending" on the small seaside town of Lovesend, Massachusetts, in the wake of the unexpected return of three missing teenagers. Head of Zeus said the novel "investigates everything from the eldritch and uncanny to the nature of friendship and family ties with [Link’s] trademark compassion, wit and intelligence". 

Link said: "The Book of Love is a project I’ve been thinking about and working on for about a decade. It’s a love letter to the writers of the romance novels and gothic novels I devoured in my 20s."

Head of Zeus previously released White Cat, Black Dog in the UK, while Canongate published some of Link’s earler work. Cheetham said: "Like so many entranced by Kelly’s short stories, I’ve been waiting for her début novel for years–decades, even! And it has been worth the wait. The Book of Love is the big book we were hoping for; 200,000 words of unalloyed Kelly Link make light the weight of all our expectations."