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Walker Books has acquired Lucy Strange and Pam Smy’s “spooky” illustrated trilogy, “Lockett & Wilde’s Dreadfully Haunting Mysteries”, in a six-figure deal.
Publishing director Denise Johnstone Burt acquired world all languages rights in three books from Strange and Smy’s respective agents – Louise Lamont at LBA and Neil Dunnicliffe at Spring Literary. The first book in the series, The Ghosts of the Manor, will publish in hardback in September 2024.
The synopsis reads: “Matilda Lockett is used to playing the role of Poor Dead Edna the Orphan on stage with her spirit-medium aunt, Signora Valentina, and theatrical uncle Barnabus – but when they all decamp to Beauchamp Manor to deal with a most dreadful haunting, she discovers she really can see ghosts! There she meets ghost boy, Edgar Wilde, who shares her love of supernatural snooping, and together they set about unravelling the case of The Ghosts of the Manor.”
Strange is the author of The Secret of Nightingale Wood (Chicken House), which was Waterstones Book of the Month, as well as Our Castle by the Sea (Chicken House) and other historical middle-grade titles. She has also been nominated for the Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Waterstones Book Prize.
“I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent immersed in the world of Lockett & Wilde – with Matilda, Edgar, Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Barnabus (Oh! and not forgetting my favourite: Colin the extremely rude parakeet!),” said Strange. “Pam’s illustrations are just breathtaking – gorgeously gothic, clever and hilarious, too.”
Smy is the author-illustrator of Thornhill (David Fickling Books), shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and The Hideaway (Pavilion Children’s Books). She is also senior lecturer practitioner on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art.
“Lucy Strange’s characters fizz with personality and quirkiness, and are pleasure to draw,” Smy said. “Her writing weaves together the tension of a mystery, the atmosphere of the gothic, the warmth of a family drama and fast-moving, hilarious comedy, so it has been a delicious challenge to try to reflect that range in the illustrations.”
Burt added: “Children everywhere will adore reading about this humorous, spooky world, full of gothic mystery, which has an effortless and timeless quality to it. Lucy’s imaginative flair shines through her writing and combined with Pam’s astonishing illustrations has created an original and absorbing world that we can wait for readers to encounter.”