Wildfire signs Clothier’s ‘gripping’ historical novel The Book of Eve

Wildfire Books has acquired The Book of Eve, a "gripping" feminist historical novel by Meg Clothier. 

World rights, including film and TV, were acquired by editorial assistant Serena Arthur from Victoria Hobbs at A M Heath. It will be published in March 2023. 

The Book of Eve is a “captivating and lyrical novel” about a mysterious book that gives women the power to confront the deep-rooted dominance of men. 

The story, inspired by the Voynich manuscript, follows Beatrice, a lonely convent librarian who yearns for knowledge of the outside world. One carnival night, two women, badly injured and desperate for help, are abandoned at the convent’s gate. Moments from death, one of them presses something into Beatrice’s hands: a bewitching book whose pages have a dangerous life of their own. But the men of the city, bent on the book’s destruction, are closing in, and Beatrice must do all she can to protect it.  

Arthur said: “Meg has thrown her absolute all into bringing this wondrous novel, reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale (Cape) and The Name of the Rose (Vintage Classics), to life. She’s an absolute gem of an author to work with and we can’t wait for readers and booksellers to fall in love with her world-building, characters and writing as we have.” 

Clothier, author of two other books with Arrow, The Girl King and The Empress, added: “I was delighted to have the chance to write this fantastical-historical tale about three things that are very important to me: books, female friendship and mother love. The team at Wildfire have been amazing, cheering me on, keeping me up to mark, as well as being unfailingly ambitious for the story The Book of Eve has to tell.”