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Deeplight

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What to expect

'One of our finest storytellers' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent
'Pure magic' M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts

From Frances Hardinge, the Costa Award-winning author of The Lie Tree comes Deeplight - an underwater adventure as dangerous as the gods themselves . . .

The gods of the Myriad were as real as the coastlines and currents, and as merciless as the winds and whirlpools. Then one day they rose up and tore each other apart, killing many hundreds of islanders and changing the Myriad forever.

On the jumbled streets of the Island of Lady's Crave live Hark and his best friend Jelt. They are scavengers: living off their wits, diving for relics of the gods, desperate for anything they can sell. But now there is something stirring beneath the waves, calling to someone brave enough to retrieve it. Something valuable. Something dangerous.

Nothing is quite as it seems, and when the waves try to claim Jelt, Hark will do anything to save him. Even if it means compromising not just who Jelt is, but what he is . . .

Critics Review

Hardinge creates an entire world and furnishes it with wonders. Pure magic.
M.R. Carey, author of The Girl With All the Gifts
Everyone should read Frances Hardinge. Everyone. Right now
Patrick Ness
In Deeplight, Hardinge's unparalleled, terrifying imagination illuminates an underwater world filled with the potent debris of departed gods, and the desperate ambitions of the humans who seek it. No one else writes quite like her - every new book is something extraordinary to be celebrated.
Imogen Russell Williams
Electrifyingly good
New Statesman
A novel by Hardinge is always an event
Sunday Times
Frances Hardinge has joined the company of writers whose books I will always seek out and read
Garth Nix
There is no mistaking the distinctive voice and vividly crafted prose of Frances Hardinge. She is a writer who delights in language, and whose stories fizz with ideas, allusions and eccentric detail
Metro
Costa award-winner Hardinge is on top form.
Daily Mail
The high priestess of Gothic brings a whole world to meticulous and terrifying life, as two boys stumble upon a secret as frightening as it is wonderful. Deeply, marvellously haunting.
i Weekend
A magical fantasy adventure from the award-winning author of The Lie Tree.
Sunday Express
A feat of impressive world-building and imagination.
The Times - Children's Books of the Year
This is a dazzling deep-sea tale.
The Financial Times
Hardinge’s surreal powers of world-building combine with her astute understanding of relationships to create a weird, wonderful, beguiling novel.
The Guardian - Best Books of the Year
Frances Hardinge is among the most original writers working today and Deeplight (Macmilllan) one of her finest books yet. She's a writer who defies easy categorisation; this will entice older children and beyond.
The Observer - The New Review

Frances Hardinge is among the most original writers working today and Deeplight (Macmillan) one of her finest books yet. Here, her dazzling imagination has conjured the Myriad archipelago, a strange world of undersea gods, lush mythology and Lovecraftian submersibles. Two very human boys, orphans turned scavengers, make a dangerous
discovery that drives a thrilling and unpredictable plot. She’s a writer who defies easy categorisation; this will entice older children and far beyond

Observer
The writing is exquisite and adults will enjoy it as much as teenagers
Daily Express - Christmas Books round-up
It’s a great adventure, you really believe in the world that Frances has created
CLPE

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