Legend Press bags Lapidaki's 'intoxicating' debut novel

Legend Press has bagged The Wives of Halycon, the "intoxicating" debut novel about life inside a cult, from Eirinie Lapidaki. 

Commissioning editor Cari Rosen acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, including audio, from Lisa Highton at Jenny Brown Associates. The novel will be published in May 2024. 

Told through the perspectives of three women, Aoife, Ruth and Deborah, The Wives of Halycon is set in the remote Scottish settlement of Halycon. The three women are married to the same man, Elijah, and as cracks begins to show, forcing the women the unite, Elijah announces his decision to take a fourth wife — 16-year-old Mim. A "triumphant and important" story which looks at coercive control and female relationships. 

The early chapters of the novel won a Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North. Lapidaki was born in the north-east of England and studied English Literature at the University of St Andrews, before completing further study at Newcastle University. She commented: "As a writer from a working-class background, winning a Northern Writers’ Award from New Writing North opened so many doors for me, and has given me the confidence and the knowledge to step into the unfamiliar world of publishing. I started writing The Wives of Halcyon while working as a bookseller at Waterstones, and it is both surreal and wonderful to think that it has now come full circle."

Rosen said: "The Wives of Halcyon is an extraordinary debut which I found both astonishing and captivating in equal measure. Set against the backdrop of the wild Scottish landscape, it is chilling, powerful and suspenseful, asking questions about faith and family through the dynamic between three very different women. I’m so thrilled to be working with Eirinie and excited to share her novel with readers next spring."