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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON

Garth Nix

A girl's quest to find her father leads her to an extended family of magical fighting booksellers who police the mythical Old World of England when it intrudes on the modern world. From the bestselling master of teen fantasy, Garth Nix.
In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn't get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.

Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones), who with the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), are an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.

Susan's search for her father begins with her mother's possibly misremembered or misspelt surnames, a reading room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.

Merlin has a quest of his own, to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find this quest strangely overlaps with Susan's. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.

Garth Nix is a New York Times bestselling novelist and has been a full-time writer since 2001, but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve.

Garth's many books include the Old Kingdom fantasy series, beginning with Sabriel and continuing to Goldenhand; the sci-fi novels Shade's Children and A Confusion of Princes; the Regency romance with magic Newt's Emerald; and novels for children including The Ragwitch, the Seventh Tower series, the Keys to the Kingdom series, and Frogkisser!, which is now in development as a feature film with Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios. Garth has written numerous short stories, some of which are collected in Across the Wall and To Hold the Bridge. He has also cowritten several children's book series with Sean Williams, including TroubleTwisters and Have Sword, Will Travel.

More than six million copies of his books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into forty-two languages.
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Book

Published 2020-09-22 by Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins

Book

Published 2020-09-22 by Katherine Tegen Books / HarperCollins

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US Book announcement: Nix Closes Double at HC Australian bestseller Garth Nix (Old Kingdom series) sold North American rights to two new novels to Katherine Tegen. Tegen, acquiring for her eponymous imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, brokered the agreement with Jill Grinberg of Jill Grinberg Literary Management. HC described the first book in the deal, Angel Mage, as "a high fantasy set in an alternative 17th-century Europe with beastlings, angels, and magic." Angel Mage is set for a worldwide publication in October. The second title, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, is set in 1980s London and follows an art student who, HC said, "is drawn into the arcane business of the booksellers whose secret sideline is to ensure that mythic entities and dormant legends do not disastrously intrude into the modern world." Booksellers of London is slated for 2020.

THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON has been shortlisted for the Mythopoeic Fiction Award in Adult Literature. Read more...

AUS/NZ: Allen & Unwin ; UK/Commonw.: Gollancz ; French: Leha ; Hebrew: Utz ; Romanian : Litera ; Russian: Azbooka Atticus ; Spanish: Roca ; Turkish: Penguen Kitap

UK Book Announcement: Gollancz has bought Australian author Garth Nix's first adult novels.

a fantasy that genre fans, teen or adult, won't want to miss.