Description

For fans of Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and
Piranesi – a spellbinding gothic fantasy about a boy lost
between two worlds, and the dangerous woman who holds the map to
both.

When twelve-year-old Pear is admitted to Kopolka’s
mental asylum on the very day his mother dies, he expects grief. What he does
not expect is Mystery.

Enigmatic, brilliant, and terrifyingly persuasive,
Mystery is a fellow patient with a gift for philosophy and a hunger for power.
Before Pear understands what has happened, he is bound to her service – tasked
with tormenting a school bully, salvaging a shipwreck for a seaside shelter,
and navigating the labyrinthine rules of a world that makes no sense.

But there is another world. In the depths of sleep,
Pear descends into the Water – a luminous, underwater realm where he becomes a
whale, befriended by the wise and erudite Mr Octaveley, an octopus philosopher
with a talent for comfort. Down here, nothing is frightening. Down here,
everything makes sense.

The two worlds cannot coexist forever.

As Mystery’s delusions grow darker and her demands
on Pear more dangerous, the line between reality and fantasy begins to shake.
Pear must decide: surrender to the beautiful madness around him, or find the
courage to fight his way back to himself.

Godless Cosmologies is a
haunting, beautifully written debut – lush with dark humour, classical prose,
and a cast of unforgettable characters. It is a novel about grief, imagination,
and what it costs a quiet soul to survive in a world that refuses to stay
still.

Perfect for readers who
love:

Gothic and literary fantasy

Mental asylum settings with dark humour

Unreliable narrators and dreamlike
fiction

Richly drawn, eccentric supporting
casts

Classic-feeling prose with a modern
sensibility

“Haunting and spellbinding… a must
read for anyone looking for a slightly darker, but no less magical, take on
classic tales like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.” –
Verified Reader

“The prose is absolutely stunning and
reads like a classic… Godless Cosmologies had it all!” –
Verified Reader