Simon & Schuster bags debut fantasy trilogy in ‘major’ six-figure pre-empt

Simon & Schuster has acquired debut author Sonia Tagliareni’s Deathbringer fantasy trilogy in a six-figure pre-empt.

Charlotte Trumble, senior commissioning editor at Simon & Schuster UK, acquired UK and Commonwealth (excluding Canada) rights, with rights sold in four other territories so far. The “major” six-figure pre-empt was negotiated by Juliet Mushens at Mushens Entertainment.

North American rights went to Elizabeth Hitti at Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, also in a six-figure pre-empt, by Ginger Clark on behalf of Juliet Mushens.

The novel – which Mushens found “on the slushpile” and “fell in love with instantly” – had its first international offer within 24 hours of submission and has also sold in a five-way German auction to Heyne in a “significant” six-figure deal, an Italian pre-empt to Garzanti, and in France to Olympe, with more territories expected during Frankfurt Book Fair.

Deathbringer will be published in hardback in early 2026 as a major lead title for S&S globally. It is the first in a fantasy trilogy which includes necromancers, forbidden love and a murder mystery in a magical academy setting, where death mage Viola and poison mage Sylas must work together to stop a killer.

The synopsis reads: “Born with a rare ability to control the dead, Viola has two reasons to hate her death magic: it killed her sister and now it will kill her too. Desperate to solve her sister’s murder she enrols at Gorhail Institute of Magic where Olivia spent her final days. When Viola meets Sylas, a poison mage whose powers come from three magical snakes, they immediately mistrust each other.

“Sylas’s mother died at the hands of a mortemagi and he wants nothing to do with one of their kind. But when Sylas reluctantly heals Viola after an attack, he forms a bond with her which threatens to overwhelm his loyalties – and his common sense. Thrust into the perilous passageways and dank catacombs of Gorhail, they uncover a greater conspiracy: someone is killing mages to steal their magic, and if they aren’t fast enough to find the murderer,Viola will be the next to die.”

Tagliareni, a former copywriter turned digital marketer, said: “Charlotte and Elizabeth’s enthusiasm have won me over – I cannot think of better champions to bring Sylas and Viola’s story to the world. To top it off, we have my absolute dream publishers in foreign territories.”

Trumble said: “Deathbringer has one of those fantasy settings which as a reader you never want to leave, despite all the death. I adore Sonia’s writing, which is immediately pacy and compelling, but with a real atmospheric quality, and I knew immediately that I needed to bring this incredible trilogy to S&S.”

Mushens added: “I loved how this book plays with some of my favourite tropes – a magical academy, enemies-to-lovers, found family, the reluctant chosen one – while also introducing one of the freshest magical systems I’d read in a long time, and in an unusual, low-tech fantasy world setting.”