BOOKS


Previews Paperback Preview


Paperback Preview July


There is plenty of big-name fiction for booksellers to hawk to customers in July, but some of the highlights come from lesser- known writers and first-time novelists


Alison Flood @alisonflood


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s the blossom blooms and bookshops open their doors to customers for the first time in months, there are some big titles ahead in July’s top sellers: Elena Ferrante’s new novel, Stephen Fry’s take on Troy, titles from Victoria Hislop, Robert Harris and John Grisham. I’m excited about the first novel for adults from Sarah Crossan, and Dolly Alderton’s first venture into fiction (one of my Editor’s Choices), as well as the paper- backs of Andrew O’Hagan and Jonathan Coe’s latest novels. In non-fiction, we can look


forward to the paperback of Jasper Rees’s biography of the late Victoria Wood, Let’s Do It, and while I’ve picked out Sarah Stewart Johnson’s look at our humanit’s long-abiding fascination with Mars as one of my favourite titles of the month, I’d also note another couple of


Submissions Paperback Preview is a monthly summary of second-edition fiction and non-fiction paperbacks. Contact paperbackpreview@gmail.com for submission guidelines; for deadlines, visit thebookseller.com/ publishing-calendar.


Next week 38


fascinating looks at space. Arik Kershenbaum’s The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy is an explora- tion of what aliens might be like, and Katie Mack’s The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) tackles how the universe might end. And in a summer which may not see us straying far from home, what beter than John Murray’s new series of classic and rediscovered travel books, which launch under the John Murray Journeys banner? Top of my list, though, has to be Arrow’s continuing reissue of Georgete Heyer. Bridgerton has bumped up interest in the genre, and the publisher is planning a PR and marketing campaign this month to further highlight Heyer’s unassailable status as the queen of Regency romance.


I’m excited about the first novel for adults from Sarah Crossan, and Dolly Alderton’s first venture into fiction


Book of the Month Pheby’s move from literary to fantasy thrills


Fantasy


Alex Pheby Mordew Galley Beggar Press, 22nd, £9.99, 9781913111120


As soon as I started reading Mordew, I knew I was going to love it. Pheby, the author of the well-received literary novels Lucia and Playthings, informs us that his first foray into fantasy is going to contain everything from “an army of


children made from mud”, to “flocking firebirds swooping over the sea”, to “much profligate destruction and violence against property”, and I was immediately won over by his humour, his tone, and his vast imagination. The first in a trilogy, this follows the story of Nathan Treeves,


BookScan ratings accompanying titles are based on TCM sales (excludes e-book, export, direct, library and other sales) of the author’s most recent original work in a similar format with at least six months’ sales through Nielsen BookScan, using the notation left.


50,000+  25,000+ 10,000+  5,000+ 3,000+ 


The next edition of The Bookseller (7th May) will feature New Titles: Fiction covering titles released in August.


30th April 2021


who lives in the slums of the city of Mordew with his dying father and his desperate mother. Trying to eke out a living and a life surrounded by Living Mud, one day Nathan’s mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew, whose magical power comes from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan has powers of his own, and his adventures are just beginning. Dark, gothic and delightful, the hardback edition of Mordew sold over 6,000 copies in 2020, says Galley Beggar, and US rights to the trilogy went to Tor in a six-figure deal, with publication due there in September 2021. Galley Beggar says the paperback will be accompanied with festival appearances, a blog tour, an online campaign and new exclusive material from the author, including the opening chapter of Malarkoi, the second novel in the trilogy. And just check out that gorgeous cover.


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