Quercus scoops Nydia Hetherington's 'spellbinding' reimagining of Shakespeare's Sycorax

Quercus has scooped Nydia Hetherington’s "spellbinding" novel Sycorax, the origin story of the Shakespeare character from "The Tempest". 

World rights were acquired by Emma Capron, editorial director, from Samar Hammam at Rocking Chair Books. 

"’I am so excited for Sycorax to come to life, and to see her grow and glow in the minds of editors and readers around the world," said Hammam. 

The synopsis for Sycorax reads: "Born of the sun and of the moon, disfigured by fire and malady, comes the most powerful witch Algiers has ever seen… Before Prospero landed on the island in ’The Tempest’, it was inhabited by a great storm witch and her son Caliban, banished there for alleged crimes against her people." 

Capron commented: "This is a beautifully written and deeply moving imagining of what came before Shakespeare’s ’The Tempest’. In a market rightly flooded with Greek retellings, this feels like a really fresh direction to feed the ravenous readers of this genre."

Hetherington added: "Quercus is the natural home for Sycorax. It was written with the team in mind, so I’m thrilled by the welcome both the book and I have had. Emma immediately understood what I wanted to do with the novel, as I knew she would, and I couldn’t be more delighted to be working with her again."