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Preface buys three from Loupas

08.02.12 | Charlotte Williams

Preface has acquired three novels by historical fiction author Elizabeth Loupas, with the first novel to be set in the time of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Publishing director Rosie de Courcy bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from David Grossman at the David Grossman Literary Agency to two novels by Loupas, as well as acquiring Loupas' debut novel from NAL/Dutton, which previously published it.

The first in the novels acquired from Grossman, The Flower Reader, will be published in hardback in June 2012, and will be followed by Loupas' debut The Second Duchess in 2013, and the third novel, The Alchemist Prince, in May 2014.

The Flower Reader features a passionate young woman who is led into a maze of murder and conspiracy as Mary, Queen of Scots comes home to reign in a divided Scotland.

De Courcy said: "From the moment I read the first sentence of The Flower Reader, I was spellbound and had butterflies in my stomach. I adore the mixture of romance, history and menace which is the hallmark of Elizabeth's writing."

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