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Usborne has acquired A Girl Called Corpse, an “unlikely” ghost story by Australian nutritionist Reece Carter, in a two-book deal.
Fiction director Rebecca Hill acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Austrlia and New Zealand, from Gemma Cooper at the Bent Agency. A Girl Called Corpse will publish in autumn 2022, with a sequel to follow.
The synopsis states: “A Girl Called Corpse is a hopeful adventure which takes place over a single stormy night as Corpse hunts for the truth about her past. A lonely kid ghost with a body made of wax, seaweed for hair, and polished abalone shells for eyes, Corpse is bound to haunt the Witches’ sea shack forever. She has no memory of who she was before the Witches took her to the rock-that-doesn’t-exist, or even what her name was. A Girl Called Corpse takes you on an adventure with Corpse and her trusted friend, a huntsman spider named Simon, battling magic, zombie-skeletons, and sea monsters. Will Corpse ever reunite with her family and her name?”
Carter has previously published two non-fiction titles for adults but said he has always wanted to write children’s books. He explained: “I came up with the character of Corpse when I was trying to get to sleep one night. Looking up, I saw that the hatch in my ceiling was slightly ajar. After hiding beneath my doona [duvet] for a while, I calmed down and started to wonder who (or what) might be up there. It didn’t take long to piece her together: a girl made of wax, called Corpse. She was prickly and stubborn and scared — but she had a good heart, too.”
“This book cast a spell on me from its first perfect line,” said Hill. “A deliciously dark adventure with truly beautiful writing and one of the quirkiest characters ever written.”