Description

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN AND JUNIPER AND THORN

‘A love letter to stories – and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling.’ Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic.

Effy has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad – a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.

Effy’s tattered copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at her prestigious architecture college. So when the late author’s family announces a contest to design his house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny.

But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Heloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.

As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them – and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

A Study in Drowning – New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, w/e 1st October 2023.

Publisher Review

A love letter to stories – and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling. * Allison Saft * As merciless as a rising tide and as beguiling as a fairy’s bargain. * Melissa Albert * A spell-binding mix of magic, myth, and mystery. * Rory Power * A lyrical examination of stories told, cherished myths, and an unravelling of truths held dear. Darkly romantic and unsettlingly eerie. * Erin A. Craig * Lyrical, incisive, and tragically beautiful, this book will haunt your dreams. Reid delivers in every way – from the atmospheric house by the sea to the achingly hopeful romance to the examination of power, gender, and control, A Study in Drowning ruins and rebuilds you. * Vaishnavi Patel *