Orion signs 'major' deal for Michelle Paver's latest novel

Orion has signed a "major" deal with Michelle Paver for Rainforest, an "immersive" companion story to Dark Matter and Thin Air. 

Publisher Sam Eades signed world rights from Peter Cox at Redhammer. Rainforest will be published as a lead title under the Orion Fiction imprint in October 2025 alongside anniversary editions of Dark Matter and Thin Air. Paver’s last adult book, Wakenhyrst, was published in 2019 by Head of Zeus, which also published the final books in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.

"David Shelley was keen for Michelle to return to Hachette/Orion and proposed Sam Eades as her publisher," said Cox. "It was an inspired choice. Michelle and Sam have a mighty meeting of minds. Rainforest is both classic Paver and shockingly groundbreaking, and Sam has been an utterly brilliant publishing accomplice in its genesis!"

The novel is a "haunting survivalist" thriller set in an "unforgiving" rainforest. The publisher continued: "Simon is sent on an expedition in the Mexican jungle to escape a scandal that threatens to destroy his career. He joins an archaeological dig, beset by a series of troubling events and dissent in the ranks. As Simon treks deeper into the jungle in search of a new species of mantid, he loses his way and his grip on reality. Simon is not alone in the rainforest. And escape will be impossible." 

Paver commented: "I love telling supernatural stories set in remote, extreme environments. So be warned – Rainforest isn’t the traditional haunted house story. With Dark Matter I took readers into the polar night. For Thin Air, to one of the highest mountains on Earth. Now, with Rainforest, we’re in a place of teeming life and sudden death, impenetrable shadows and shocking bursts of colour."

Eades added: "Every single second of this journey into the rainforest with Michelle has been a joy. Her phenomenal writing reminds me of the power fiction has to make us feel and make us fear. She weaves together Mayan culture with themes of obsession, possession, gender, death and rebirth, casting a dark spell on the reader all the way to the shocking finale."