I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out in 1976 this month. Maybe it’s because the world feels a little scary at the moment, but I’ve loved escaping into another decade. That summer, the UK was in the grip of a fierce heatwave, and as I edit the final chapters, I think I’ve been using that imagined warmth to keep my spirits up.
As you know (because I’ve probably droned on about it before), book four started with a single scene. I’ve always ‘seen’ my characters and settings, but this book, in particular, has been playing out in my mind like a film. It’s all hazy and dreamlike, with soft golden tones and sun-washed pastels.
Unspooling like film
After spending an unhealthy amount of time on YouTube, the closest comparisons I’ve found are perfume adverts: Gucci Bloom and Chanel’s Train de Nuit with Audrey Tautou—who, coincidentally, looks remarkably like Gwen, our protagonist.
Here’s the hastily scribbled scene I jotted down back on 7th January 2022:
A young woman strides into an abandoned baroque ballroom carrying a cello. As the sun slips into the west, bathing the vast forgotten space in the honeyed, melancholic light of late summer, she sits on the only chair in the room, levels her bow, and...
What happened next took me completely by surprise!
(Sorry to be a tease, but I don't want to spoil the surprise!)
It also made me cry (always a good sign!), and I knew this had to be a book. That It reminded me of my long-abandoned dreams of learning the cello, is another story.
Character love
I can't wait for you to meet Gwen and Dan. And Walt too—who marched onto the page looking and sounding like Stephen Fry. This has only happened once before; Henri from The First Ethereal and The Blessing of Crows looked like Sir Ian McKellen from day one and I wasn't about to argue with superstars!
I should mention that while the main characters in book four are new, this is still an Ethereal World novel, so if you’ve read the other three books, you’ll recognise a few familiar faces.
What if Addie LaRue was a witch...?
I’ve been racking my brain for comparable titles to help with the launch marketing, but as I don’t set out to write a story based on someone else’s, it’s quite difficult! I’m trying to reverse-engineer a comparison based on books I’ve read, and the closest I’ve come for book four is: What if Addie LaRue was a witch?
If you’ve read V.E. Schwab’s excellent The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, you might recognise a core theme if I say that our protagonist, Gwen, isn’t invisible. She’s not French. And she didn’t make a Faustian bargain… So what does Gwen have in common with Addie? Answers on an email...
Release date
I haven’t settled on a release date just yet, but my cover designer is booked for early May, and my editor for late May. That means, if all goes to plan, I should be launching in July. Stay tuned! I'm announcing the title soon and if you want to be the first to hear, you can join the readers' club here.