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Headline Review will publish a new series by historical novelist Karen Maitland, under the alias K J Maitland.
Frankie Edwards, commissioning editor at Headline Review, acquired world English language rights in three novels from Victoria Hobbs at A M Heath. The first title, The Drowned City, will be published on 1st April 2021.
Set in Bristol, The Drowned City is a historical thriller which unfolds in the wake of the gunpowder plot. The novel will introduce Daniel Pursglove, who is sent from London to Bristol by the King’s closest adviser, and will open with a towering, tsunami-style wave sweeping up the Bristol Channel and devastating the city precisely one year to the day that the first gunpowder conspirators were executed for treason.
Edwards said: "Karen has such a talent for seeking out real historical moments that feel very human and immediate – like this devastating flood – and weaving rich, intriguing stories around them. The Drowned City is immersive, gripping and impeccably researched – a thrilling new direction from an expert writer at the height of her powers."
Maitland commented: "I can’t always be certain of the moment when a novel is conceived; often it comes from an incident or landscape that has been simmering away in the back of my mind, until another idea collides with it and creates the magic spark of life. But with this novel, I knew from the moment I stumbled on a dramatic account of a great flood which swept up the Bristol Channel in 1606, leaving over 2,000 people missing or dead, that it would become the core of a story. The connection between the date of the wave and the dark repercussions of the gunpowder plot were irresistible – what could be a more fascinating ‘coincidence’ with which to start a novel..."
Maitland has written over 20 books as Karen Maitland, most recently A Gathering of Ghosts (Headline Review, 2019).