Usborne scoops Emma Hinds’ ‘utterly addictive’ queer romantasy

Usborne has scooped Witchlore, a queer romantasy and first YA novel from Manchester-based author Emma Hinds, which was also pre-empted in a six-figure deal in the US. 

Associate editorial director Sarah Stewart acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Philippa Milnes-Smith at The Soho Agency. North American rights were acquired by Wednesday Books, an imprint of Macmillan, in a “significant” six-figure pre-empt. Witchlore will be published in October 2025. 

“We couldn’t be more delighted that Usborne will be bringing their unique publishing alchemy to this addictive magical YA début,” said Milnes-Smith. 

Witchlore follows non-binary shapeshifter Orlando “Lando” Southerns, who must team up with a handsome witch to bring back their past love and clear their name. 

The synopsis continues: “When Elizabeth, the girl Lando loves, dies and the blame for her death is laid squarely at Lando’s feet, it feels a step into the abyss. Shunned by everyone at college and with the rumours still flying, Lando seems to have nowhere to turn. But then Lando meets Bastian, an attractive new transfer student who makes an irresistible proposition: that together they resurrect Elizabeth using a spell from a legendary shapeshifter grimoire, The Witchlore of Bodies. All they need is the grimoire itself, a few magical tokens they’ll have to steal from boggarts, selkies and hellhounds…and a shapeshifter’s blood. What could possibly go wrong?” 

Stewart said: “What Emma has created in the world of Witchlore is so real, so raw and so utterly addictive. I was spellbound by the idea of witches, shifters, selkies and hellhounds living among us, and bewitched from the first page by the unique trials Lando faces: how would you cope if your body switched between male and female forms with no warning? And what would you do if your new crush said they could raise your first love from the dead? The passion is as real as the magic and I can’t wait for YA readers to discover their new obsession.” 

Hinds added: “As my first book for young adults, Witchlore is very dear to my heart. I am so grateful to Sarah Stewart for finding a home for it at Usborne and for the dedicated work of Philippa Milnes-Smith and Alice Saunders at The Soho Agency for seeing its future. Witchlore is exactly the type of story I needed as a teenager: magical and queer. I truly hope it helps young people in my community feel seen and represented.” 

She is based in Manchester. She has a Master’s in Creative Writing from the University of St Andrews. Her début novel, The Knowing (Bedford Square Publishers) came out earlier this year and she has previously written non-fiction books in her capacity as an academic. She has also been longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition twice and was a participant of the Penguin Random House Write Now Scheme in 2018.