Paver returns to Wolf Brother series after Zephyr deal

Michelle Paver will next year publish a new Wolf Brother novel, the first in ten years, after signing a deal with Head of Zeus imprint Zephyr.

The six existing books in the series were published between 2004 and 2009 by Orion Children’s Books, selling 824,967 copies for £5.3m through Nielsen BookScan, and Paver said the characters “have never gone away”.

“Fans around the world still send letters or contact me through my website and as Wolf Brother is taught in schools, I regularly get letters from whole classes of students,” she said. “Back in January 2015 I began seriously to wonder: what did happen to Torak, Renn and Wolf after the sixth book ended? Quite by chance, I'd booked a short break in north Norway and on the plane, ideas started fizzing.  As I tramped through the snowbound forest of Malangenfjord, I was plunged back into the world I love. And the characters started to speak to me. It is such a joy to be back there.”

At Orion the novels were published by Fiona Kennedy, who moved to Head of Zeus to set up the Zephyr imprint in 2016. Zephyr acquired world rights to three more books from Peter Cox at Redhammer and the first, The Viper’s Daughter, will publish in spring 2020.

Last year Head of Zeus also acquired Paver’s adult novel Wakenhyrst, described as a "brilliant and terrifying tale of mystery and imagination", for a six-figure sum.