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Phoenix has swooped in a seven-way auction for The Witching Tide, a “magnificent” debut by Margaret Meyer.
Publisher Francesca Main acquired UK and Commonwealth rights in a two-book deal from Peter Straus at RCW. The Witching Tide will be published as a super-lead Phoenix hardback with an “unmissable” campaign in July 2023.
Kate Stephenson, the newly-appointed senior publisher at Hachette Aotearoa NZ, will publish simultaneously in New Zealand. North American rights have sold to Nan Graham and Kara Watson at Scribner US. The book has sold in five translation territories.
Inspired by true events, the book is set in 1645 East Anglia and tells the story of a mute midwife, healer and servant, Martha Hallybread, who has lived peacefully for more than four decades in her beloved village of Cleftwater. The synopsis goes on: “But suddenly, amid the escalating tensions of the English Civil War, she becomes a silent witness to a witch hunt, led by sinister new arrival Silas Makepeace. As a trusted member of the community, Martha is enlisted to search the bodies of the accused women for marks of the devil. But whilst she wants to help her friends, she also harbours a dark secret that must never be revealed.
“In desperation, Martha revives a poppet, a wax witching doll that she inherited from her mother in the hope that it will bring protection. But the poppet’s true powers are unknowable, the tide is turning, and time is running out…”
Meyer earned an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia and her work has appeared in a variety of literary publications. She grew up in New Zealand where she worked as a journalist and then fiction editor, working with writers including Booker Prize-winner Keri Hulme. In the UK she was the Museum of London’s publishing director before becoming director of literature at the British Council, promoting the work of British and Commonwealth writers around the world. She lives in Norwich.
She said: “At least 100 innocent women were killed and the lives of many more blighted as a consequence of England’s deadliest witch-hunt. Even in today’s #MeToo era, their stories resound through the centuries and demand to be more widely known. I’m delighted The Witching Tide has found its natural home with Phoenix, an exciting imprint that makes bold publishing choices.”
Main added: “The Witching Tide is a sensational novel – intoxicating and immersive, so gripping that the pages almost turn themselves, and so powerful that it leaves you reeling. Margaret is both a spellbinding storyteller and an extraordinarily lyrical and dynamic writer, who gives voice to a character who cannot speak and transports us back in time whilst holding up a mirror to the misogyny and suspicion of our present moment. Her debut electrified the entire company and we can’t wait to press it into the hands of readers far and wide.”