Screenwriter Mark Illis' first children's book to Quercus

Quercus Children's Books has acquired author and screenwriter Mark Illis' first children's book, The Impossible, and its sequel. 

The Impossible is a comic-book inspired adventure with a graphic novel twist, pitched as "perfect for fans of Charlie Higson and Joe Sugg", and illustrated by Bimpe Alliu.

Its plot follows Hector Coleman - "your average angst-ridden teenager, living a normal crap life in a normal crap town with, let’s face it, a crap name. Until his mates start genetically mutating - and everything changes. Apart from his name, his girl trouble, and his embarrassingly low number of Twitter followers". 

Illis has had three adult novels published by Bloomsbury and two adult novels published by Salt, in addition to having written extensively for television, including for "EastEnders", "The Bill" and "Emmerdale". He commented on his new book, "When you’re a teenager, everything changes. My novel aims to capture the excitement, mystery and angst of that strange time. And there’s aliens."

The Impossible will publish on 27th July 2017 and Quercus Children's has snapped up the sequel in a two-book deal. Sarah Lambert, editorial director at Quercus Children’s Books, secured world rights in a two-book deal with Jo Unwin at Jo Unwin Literary Agency.

Lambert said: "I am so thrilled to be publishing this stand-out teen novel. Hector Coleman is the authentic voice of a generation of teens and Mark Illis is a really exciting new talent for this age group."