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Tor pounces for Dawson's 'powerful and uplifting' novel in two-book deal
Tor has pounced in a two-book deal for J R Dawson’s “powerful and uplifting” novel The First Bright Thing.
Publisher Bella Pagan acquired UK and Commonwealth rights with audio via Chris Scheina at Tor US. It will publish in the UK and US in June 2023.
The First Bright Thing follows three magically-gifted women who plan to build a circus and a home in the ruins of the First World War. Readers are promised “a book steeped in 1920s glamour, magic, danger and queer romance”.
Its synopsis explains: “The story starts after the First World War, where a select few had woken with unexplained magical abilities across the globe. They became known as Sparks, and were feared. Now it’s 1926, and three marginalised women are creating a haven for those who are lost – a fantastical circus where these magicians and outcasts can find a new home – while spreading joy across a shattered continent. Rin runs the Circus of the Fantasticals with her wife Odette and her friend Mauve. And together, as time-traveller, healer and seer. And together, as time-traveller, seer and healer, they tour a post-First World War landscape with their fellow Sparks. As they perform, and avoid arrest, they hope to leave the world brighter than they found it.
“But another war looms on the horizon, and another circus follows the Fantasticals. One with tents as black as midnight, whose leader has a dark power and even darker desires. The Fantasticals have something he desperately seeks, and he will not stop until it is his.”
Dawson said: “It is a lifelong dream to be working with Bella and the whole Tor UK team to bring this project of my heart to more readers around the world. Rin’s little ragtag circus has been brewing in my head since I was a kid, and now I get to share it with you. I’ll meet you at the midway.”
Pagan commented: “I fell in love with the circus all over again when I read The First Bright Thing. J R Dawson brings this tantalisingly perilous story to life, with its misfits, magicians and dangerous rivals. Yet Dawson also offers readers – and her circus goers – the hope of better times. It’s a gloriously addictive read.”
