Usborne and Hickes head back to school for 'chilling' Shadowhall Academy series

Usborne has landed the "chilling", middle-grade Shadowhall Academy series from Phil Hickes.

Fiction editor Alice Moloney acquired UK, Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, in a two-book deal from Chloe Seager, director of children’s and YA at Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. Shadowhall Academy: The Whispering Walls, the first book in the deal, will be published on 1st February 2024 with the second book following in 2025.

Seager said: "Phil’s writing is so child-centred and entertaining and I know kids everywhere will be staying up late to read this under covers by torchlight!”

The synopsis for Shadowhall Academy: The Whispering Walls reads: "When Lilian Jones starts at creepy, cold and bewilderingly large Shadowhall Academy, she’s nervous about making friends. And when her roommates tell her the school is haunted, she thinks they’re just trying to scare the new girl.

"But then bizarre things start happening – tapping and whispers in the walls at night, tales of missing students and strange figures in the woods. Lilian discovers that not only are the school ghost stories true, but her new friends could be in danger. So she sets out to uncover the secrets of Shadowhall Academy, whatever it takes."

Moloney commented: "When Phil said he wanted to write a series about the boarding school adventures of Aveline Jones’s aunt Lilian, I immediately knew it would be brilliant. Phil is a master of atmospheric and heart-pounding storytelling, and combining it with the humour and friendship of classic boarding school stories makes for a terrifyingly fun new series. We can’t wait to welcome readers to Shadowhall Academy.”

Hickes, also the author of the Aveline Jones series, added: "I’m chuffed to bits that the amazing team at Usborne are here to hold my hand once again as we tiptoe into the darker corners of middle grade.

"Aunt Lilian is one of my favourite characters from the Aveline Jones books and it was great fun to imagine her childhood. It wasn’t long before I found myself walking through the fearsome gates of Shadowhall Academy. I hope I can bring something fresh and inventive to the boarding school setting and find that right balance of genuine scares and cosiness that we know middle-grade readers (and many adults like myself) love.”