Sphere takes three more from Chadwick 

The team at Sphere has acquired three more historical fiction titles by Elizabeth Chadwick in a world English language deal struck with Isobel Dixon at Blake Friedmann. 

The Royal Rebel, the first of her new novels, is slated for September 2024 and tells the story of Jeanette, “a young royal who refuses to let history happen to her, defying the odds – as well as war, plague, and even her king – to blaze her own trail and be reunited with the man she loves” the publisher said. 

Chadwick said: “I am so delighted to be working with my wonderful editor Molly Walker-Sharp and the team at Sphere on this contract for three historical novels set in the 14th century – a time of massive social and political upheaval, including a devastating pandemic that has so many parallels with our lives today. At the heart of the novels are two women: Jeanette – known mostly to history as Joan of Kent – a remarkable young woman, pressed by her family into moulds of expectation that she was always going to break, and Katherine Swynford, royal mistress, often vilified in her own time, but a woman of influence, indomitable strength and lasting fascination.” 

Walker-Sharp added: “Elizabeth Chadwick is renowned for her ability to sweep readers away to a time and place they can hardly imagine, and these novels are no exception. We are so proud to be working hand-in-hand with her across a duology and one further book to introduce readers to two headstrong heroines that time has all but forgotten.”