Doubleday wins 11-way auction for Kim Willis' 'lost goddesses' memoir
Doubleday has acquired No Fair Maidens: A Wild Journey with the Lost Goddesses of Britain by Kim Willis in an 11-way auction.
Lucy Oates, editorial director, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Emma Parry at Janklow and Nesbit, following bids from 10 other publishers. No Fair Maidens will be published by Doubleday in June 2026.
Willis is a narrative strategist and journalist based between London and South Wales. She has designed storytelling strategies for 10 Downing Street and the United Nations, written features about wild places for the Guardian and was the founder of The Heroine’s Journey speaker series in London.
Her first book, No Fair Maidens, “recounts her journey through the oldest mythologies of Great Britain, bringing magical heroines to the fore who restore our strength, wonder and connection to the place we call home”, Doubleday said.
The publisher continued: “In her late 30s, Kim was living in a warehouse in east London, drifting from the traditional path of marriage and motherhood. Grappling with big questions about place and belonging, she retreated to her native Wales, where she discovered lost tales of ancient matriarchs who once commanded our lands.
“Through myth and memoir, she recounts her quest to uncover their dormant power, restoring the stories of nature-led goddesses like Melusine, Coventina and Cerridwen to their rightful place at the centre of our island’s story. During her stunning journey from the Severn to Skye, Eryri to Northumberland, Kim discovers new magic in the tales of old, unveiling forgotten truths about grief and healing, while charting a new course through sisterhood and sexuality, fertility and freedom.
“Through the threads of folklore, history and landscape, here Kim identifies a better way of being for modern women and crafts a new narrative for a wilder Britain, where women are – and always were – a force of nature.”
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Oates said: “No Fair Maidens is unlike anything I’ve ever read: a rich blend of memoir, history, social commentary, myth and nature. At a time where so many of us are crying out for connection and understanding, Kim shows that the answers have been underneath our feet all along, in the stories that once dominated our lands and in the landscapes from which they arose. This is a book of reclamation, yes, but it also shows us a new way to live.”
Willis said: “No Fair Maidens isn’t just a rejection of the false stories that suppress female power. It’s a rallying cry to all women, across the ages, who dare to live differently; offering us a mandala of wild heroines born of this soil, who together can guide our path and reawaken the spirit of the land. The fact we don’t know our own mythology tells us that some crime has occurred here. It’s time we shared that wisdom once again.”
Parry said: “Kim Willis is one of the most powerful storytellers I’ve encountered. I can’t wait for readers to feel the deep replenishment and inspiration that No Fair Maidens offers.”
