Dinsdale to publish 'magical' book with Ebury

Author Robert Dinsdale is publishing a new book with Ebury about a magical toyshop in the heart of Mayfair. 

Publishing director for fiction, Gillian Green, bought world rights to The Toymakers from Euan Thorneycroft at A M Heath and will publish on the Del Rey imprint in hardback in February 2018.

The book is set in 1917 in London, a city which has spent years in the shadow of the First World War. But Papa Jack’s Toy Emporium provides a place of hope - "where dreams can come true" and "the impossible becomes possible" - which its new shop assistance Cathy will soon find out.

Dinsdale said: "Gillian and the team at Ebury understood the ambition for The Toymakers from the start and I couldn't be more delighted they're giving its cast of runaways, magical craftsmen and living, breathing toys a chance in the wider world. Writing this novel was the most joyful excuse to dive back into childhood and mine ideas from stories I tried to write all that time ago, and I can't wait to invite people into the Emporium."

Green said: "We’re thrilled to be publishing this utterly beautiful enchanting novel. Rob is a brilliantly evocative writer and this delightful novel is sure to appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. As with dollhouses in The Miniaturist, toyshops hold a similar fascination for many people and in The Toymakers and in Papa Jack’s Emporium, Rob has created a highly original world that will delight the inner child in all of us."

Dinsdale, from North Yorkshire, is the author of three previous novels, The Harrowing (Faber & Faber), Little Exiles (The Borough Press) and Gingerbread (The Borough Press).