Hodder pre-empts 'beguiling' Macbeth-inspired debut by Hodges 

Hodder & Stoughton has signed The Wayward Sisters, the debut historical novel by author and journalist Kate Hodges.

Lily Cooper, commissioning editor, pre-empted world all-language rights from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann. The Wayward Sisters, described as “a historical intrigue set in 18th-century Scotland, which offers a modern, feminist perspective on Macbeth’s Three Witches”, will be published on 26th October.

The story begins in 1769, the year of Venus’s second transit, when frustrated astronomer Nancy Lockaby is still reeling from the ridicule that her theories on the transit have earned her from her colleagues at the Greenwich Observatory. A mysterious invitation from Shakespearean scholar, Caleb Malles, to join him as a research fellow in Inverness, gives her a chance of escape.

But while Nancy initially finds herself drawn in by Caleb’s eccentric, brilliant mind, when she crosses paths with three crones who warn her that the scholar is hiding dark intentions, Nancy finds herself wondering who she can trust. Especially when the women claim that they have their own relationship with one of the Bard’s greatest works…

Cooper said: “The Wayward Sisters serves up everything I love in a novel – wonderfully chilling atmosphere, a page-turning plot, and characters who speak to our times – with a delicious side-helping of Shakespeare. In her story, Kate interrogates the narrative of Macbeth’s Witches as a representation of evil and chaos, and offers us a fresh, imaginative take on one of literature’s most famous trios through a rollicking adventure that will leave readers under its spell. We’re very excited to be introducing her story to the world this Halloween.”

Hodges said: “I am very happy to bring the stories of Nancy and the three witches of Macbeth to the world, and to have had the opportunity to explore that period in history when the lines between science and magic were blurred and porous. I’m grateful to the team at Hodder for publishing my debut at the perfect time: Halloween!”

Pickering added: “I can think of no one better to explore the three women of Macbeth and who they really may have been behind the ‘double toil and trouble’, than Kate and her imagination.”