Scholastic wins Rory Power's 'feat of a YA novel'

Scholastic has snapped up Kill Creatures, the "explosive" psychological YA thriller from Rory Power. 

Polly Lyall Grant, fiction editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights at auction from Daisy Parente at Lutyens & Rubinstein. The novel is slated for publication in June 2025 with Delacorte Press publishing simultaneously in the US.

Pitched as a "mind-bending" thriller, Kill Creatures follows Nan, a teenage girl grappling with the truth about the disappearance of her three best friends.

The synopsis continues: "When one of them inexplicably returns a year later, Nan is shocked – because she knows it’s impossible… she’s the one who killed them."

Power said: “This book was built from some of the things that fascinate me most – surreal landscapes, the space between a story and a lie, and girls with nothing to lose. Writing it was a joy.”

Lyall Grant added: “I dropped everything when the new Rory Power hit my desk and I wasn’t disappointed. Kill Creatures is a pacy, twisty and delicious thriller about jealousy, idolisation and desire – specifically the lengths one girl goes to in order to be close to the popular girls. I knew this would be good, but having the killer outed on the first few pages set this up to be a disruptive and unique story that takes a deep dive into female friendships and the human psyche.”