Legend Press joins Penner's London Séance Society

Legend Press has signed the second novel from Sarah Penner, whose debut The Lost Apothecary was a New York Times top-10 hit.

Commissioning editor Cari Rosen acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Jennifer Choi, subsidiary rights manager at Harlequin. The London Séance Society will be published in hardback in March 2023, coinciding with the US edition published by Park Row Books.

Set in 1872 London, The London Séance Society features a female crime-solving medium who is pitted against a mysterious killer plaguing a men’s-only league of illusionists, sparking a deadly game of cat and mouse. The novel is inspired by a real gentlemen’s-only séance club founded by Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the Victorian era, and “promises to shine a light on how women at the time used the occult to circumvent societal constraints and build a livelihood for themselves”. 

Penner’s The Lost Apothecary (Legend Press), recently released in paperback, has been translated into 40 languages and is currently in production to become a drama series with Fox Entertainment.

The author, who worked in finance for 13 years before becoming a full-time writer in 2021, said: “I’m thrilled to be working with the Legend Press team on the publication of my second novel, The London Séance Society, in the UK. In 2021, the Legend team published my debut, The Lost Apothecary, and I was delighted by the level of support, encouragement and enthusiasm from the team at every turn. I’m overjoyed to be working with Legend Press yet again.”

Rosen commented: “We have been delighted by the fantastic and deserved reception for The Lost Apothecary and to have introduced Sarah Penner to UK readers. We are now excited to be publishing her much-anticipated second novel, The London Séance Society, which promises to be every bit as captivating as her debut.”