Autumn Edition: announcing two new books!

Dear friends,

November is here! I love this time of year, particularly because the city where I live is at its mysterious gothic best in the autumn months. I've been hunkering down in my studio, with a cardigan and a blanket, getting on with writing.

I'm also delighted to have news of two forthcoming books to share!

Coming soon: Lottie the Little Wonder

My latest book for Barrington Stoke’s Little Gems series is Lottie the Little Wonder illustrated by the amazing Ella Okstad.

If you’re familiar with my previous Little Gems, you’ll know that each of them is inspired by a real-life heroine from history. This time I’ve taken inspiration from the extraordinary athlete Lottie Dod. The youngest ever Wimbledon Ladies Singles tennis champion, Lottie first won Wimbledon in 1887 aged just 15 years old - and went on to win again a further four times!

But as if an incredible tennis career wasn’t enough, she also excelled at a whole host of other sports, including: playing hockey for England, becoming the British Ladies' National Golf champion and winning an Olympic medal for archery. She counted cycling, ice-skating and mountaineering among her other sporting interests.

In Lottie the Little Wonder, we go back to her childhood to find out more about how her tennis career and love of sport might have begun. Here’s the blurb for the book:

“Girls can’t play tennis as well as boys? What a lot of NONSENSE!” Lottie Dod is DETERMINED to show that girls can be just as good as sports as boys. She runs and jumps and leaps after the ball – playing tennis makes Lottie feel WONDERFUL. After beating her brothers, she eventually goes on to reach the finals of the most important tennis competition of them all – WIMBLEDON! Can she continue her winning streak to become the world’s first female sports SUPERSTAR? NEVER underestimate what little girls can do!

Lottie the Little Wonder will be published on 14th March 2024, and you can preorder a copy now from Waterstones.
 

More books news: The Moonstone

I’m delighted to be joining a brilliant line-up of authors for Walker Books' new series of abridged classic novels for middle grade readers! I’ll be taking on The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - generally considered to be the first detective novel written in English.

Told by a cast of different characters, it’s an engrossing tale, incorporating a mysterious missing jewel, wild windswept landscapes, sinister villains, romance, and plenty of twists and turns. This is one of the books that really kindled my love of classic detective fiction -  if you’ve read the Sinclair’s Mysteries, you might already know that the book was a huge inspiration for The Jewelled Moth.

First published in 1868, there are a lot of elements of the book that are complicated and problematic - particularly the way it represents the British Empire, colonialism and race - which is something that I'll be looking at closely as I approach creating my abridgement. I find working on retellings and abridgements like this so interesting (you can also check out my take on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice), so this is a project I’m really excited about.

The Moonstone will be out in 2025, so there's a little while to wait for this one - but in the meantime, do look out for the other books in the series including Patrice Lawrence’s Jane Eyre and AL Kennedy’s Great Expectations, both of which will be out next year.
 

Signed bookplates

It may have only just been Halloween, but I've already started getting some emails from people who are keen to buy a signed book to give as a Christmas gift. If you're looking for a signed copy of one of my books, you could contact Waterstones Lancaster, who usually have a good range available.

Alternatively, you can email me to request a signed and dedicated bookplate which I can post out to you, and you can stick it into a book. If you’d like to do this, please ensure you contact me by Monday 11th December, so that I can get the bookplate to you in time for Christmas. In your email, make sure you let me know how many bookplates you would like, the name(s) for any dedication(s), and your full postal address. (Please note this will be available to those in the UK only because of postage costs!)
 

From the bookshelf

I think this is the perfect time of year to read The Painted Dragon, which is definitely one of my most autumnal books, and has a distinctly dark academia vibe. The third Sinclair’s Mysteries book, it introduces one of my favourite characters from the series, aspiring artist Leo, who is leaving behind an unhappy life in a grand country house to study art in London. The chance to be involved in an exciting new exhibition opening at Sinclair's Department Store seems like a thrilling opportunity - but when a priceless painting disappears, Leo finds herself in big trouble, and danger soon follows. Can her fellow student Jack, his intrepid sister Lil and her best friend Sophie find a way to help?

Set on the foggy, mysterious streets of Bloomsbury in autumn, this story takes its inspiration from the young artists of the Edwardian era, as well as real-life art crimes, like the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. (It’s also the first book where we encounter a certain mysterious shadowy organisation known as the Fraternitas Draconum…)

For a feel of what the book is all about, and for a spot of mysterious autumnal atmosphere, check out my Painted Dragon Pinterest board here.

Buy your copy of The Painted Dragon from Waterstones / Bookshop.org / Amazon or listen to it as an audiobook beautifully read by Jessica Preddy.
 

5 favourites

Here are a few of the books I've been enjoying lately:

Adventuremice: Otter Chaos by Sarah McInytre and Philip Reeve
I'm reading a lot of 'early reader' style chapter books with my daughter at the moment, and the Adventuremice series is one of the best I have encountered. Created by long-time collaborators Sarah McInytre and Philip Reeve, it's a perfect blend of delightful animal characters, exciting, funny and adventurous stories, a whimsical imaginary world, and of course, gorgeous full-colour artwork rich with detail to explore. This is the first book, which introduces us to young mouse hero Pedro and the Adventuremice gang, but there are also two more to enjoy, including a new wintery instalment, Mice on the Ice.

Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Julie Morstad
I'm an enormous fan of Kate DiCamillo. If you haven't read any of her books before (and you really should) this could be a good place to start - the first book in the new Norendy Tales series of interlinked stories, each of which has artwork from a different illustrator. Here, the artwork is by Julie Morstad, whose illustrations I love. Clever, charming, wise and wistful, it's the story of a group of five puppets, who we meet lying in the bottom of a trunk, and follow on some unexpected and often very moving adventures. A perfect little jewel of a book, it would make a lovely gift for any reader who relishes beautiful children's fiction.

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
It feels a bit silly to be including this book, because it was an instant bestseller and has already been reviewed and recommended everywhere - but of course, I couldn't possibly miss it out of my list. My lovely friend, the brilliantly clever Katherine Rundell has written a glorious new children's fantasy adventure, with two memorable young heroes and an amazing cast of mythical creatures. I was lucky enough to help celebrate the launch of the book at the Natural History Museum back in September alongside lots of other authors and illustrators, including hearing Kate talk about the power and importance of children's books. Fans of classic children's fantasy will love this rich, beautifully-written adventure.

In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
This captivating and heartfelt magical adventure is written by another incredible author friend of mine Kiran Milwood Hargrave. I read this, the first book in a new epic fantasy series, on a rainy camping trip deep in the woods. It really was the most perfect location to read this story, which is infused with nature magic. One of my favourite things about it is that the wild landscapes it depicts are closely inspired by real places in the British Isles. I loved listening to Kiran talking about the book (as well as Sabriel by Garth Nix, one of the 'books of power' that helped inspire it) on the Bookwandering with Anna James podcast here.

Yours from the Tower by Sally Nicholls
I relished everything about this gorgeous new YA novel from Sally Nicholls, from its beautiful front cover to its three delightful heroines. Set in 1896, it's about a trio of best friends who have recently left boarding school, and set out on very different paths - Polly is teaching at a Liverpool orphanage, Sophia has embarked on a London Season, and Tirzah is stuck acting as a companion to her strict grandmother. Told entirely through letters between the girls (and occasionally other characters) it's a lovely tale of friendship, romance, and growing up, exploring what it meant to be a young woman in the late Victorian era. I really love an epistolatory novel and I think this one will definitely be enjoyed by older fans of my Sophie and Lil books.

A bonus recommendation:  The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger by JT Williams, illustrated by Simone Douglas.
This one is a bit of a cheat as I know I've recommended it here in the newsletter before, but I wanted to give it an extra shout-out! Last month I was in London to speak at The Bookseller Children’s Conference and help celebrate the inaugural The Week Junior Book Awards. As chair of judges for the Breakthrough category, I was especially delighted to be there to see our hugely deserving winners J T Williams and Simone Douglas receive their trophy for this brilliant book - as well as to raise a glass to the whole excellent shortlist.

If you're looking for even more book recommendations, do check out my Bookshop.org page, as well as this list of all my previous newsletter recommendations.

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of the newsletter. I’ll be back in your inboxes pretty soon, in December, for my special Christmas edition - until then you can find me on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and now also on Threads.

You can also find me on my website katherinewoodfine.co.uk and of course, you can contact me here.

Happy reading!

Katherine