Frances Hardinge

Instantly recognisable from her trademark collection of black hats, British author Frances Hardinge is one of the most acclaimed and inventive writers of her generation. Best known as an author of YA fiction, her work defies easy categorisation and is read and loved by readers of all ages.

Brought up in Kent in the sort of house that wouldn’t be out of place in one of her more gothic novels, Hardinge started writing at an early age. Her first novel, Fly by Night - a dark mystery set in an alternative 17th century world - was quickly snapped up for publication and won the coveted Branford Boase Award for outstanding debut fiction. She followed this with the 2011 sequel Twilight Robbery, Gullstruck Island, A Face Like Glass, and Cuckoo Song, which was shortlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal and chosen as one of the Sunday Times 100 Modern Children's Classics.

Hardinge’s work became more widely known to adult readers after her novel The Lie Tree – a spellbinding mix of Victorian murder-mystery and fantasy - won not only the Costa Children’s Book Prize but also the overall Costa Book of the Year Award. This reputation was cemented when Waterstones shortlisted her next novel, A Skinful of Shadows, for Waterstones Book of the Year. Frances Hardinge is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her latest novel, Deeplight, was published in October 2019.

Deeplight

Frances Hardinge

£7.99

Paperback

5+ in stock

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Once, the waters around the island of Lady’s Cave were governed by powerful gods of the Undersea who ruled without a care for mortal lives. Then, without warning, their rule turned to bitter infighting, leaving only their remains for brave or foolhardy treasure-seekers to scavenge for to make their fortune. But something else lies hidden in the deeps, something that calls. Conjuring a new and fully realised oceanic mythology and written with her inimitable blend of humour, assured characterisation and vivid imagination, Deeplight is Frances Hardinge’s most ambitious and most accomplished novel to date.