Transworld pre-empts ‘magical and moving’ debut by Penguin General’s Leighton 

Transworld has acquired a feminist reimagining of the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty by debut novelist Georgia Leighton, the pen name of Georgia Taylor, a senior campaigns manager at Penguin General. 

Imogen Nelson, commissioning editor, acquired world rights to Spellbound and a second novel from Marina de Pass at The Soho Agency, in an overnight pre-empt. Transworld will launch Spellbound as a lead title in Bantam hardback, e-book and audio in spring 2025. 

Told from the perspectives of the women at the heart of the story, the novel opens on a windswept island where a long-awaited royal heir is born. According to custom, a blessing ceremony takes place to bestow the princess with magical gifts – along with a terrible curse. But this is not the love story you know, and there is no prince to save the day. Instead, three women concoct a desperate plan of misdirect that changes the course of their lives, all while the end of the curse edges ever closer...

Nelson said: “I read Spellbound in 24 hours, and had fully surrendered to its magic within a matter of pages. Georgia deftly flips the script on the classic fairy tale we all know and love: there’s no enchanted slumber here, nor any heroic princes swooping in at the eleventh hour. Instead, Spellbound is a magical and moving book about the complex relationships between mothers, daughters and sisters, and about defying expectations to forge an independent path. I know Georgia’s lush writing and worldbuilding will captivate traditional fantasy readers and fans of historical retellings alike, and we can’t wait to launch her as a sparkling new voice in genre fiction.” 

Leighton said: “I am delighted to be working with Imogen and the amazing team at Transworld. To be published alongside a number of my literary heroes is a true privilege, and to have the opportunity to share Spellbound with readers is a dream come true. I am incredibly grateful to Imogen, Transworld and my wonderful agent Marina, who believed in me and Spellbound from the beginning.”