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'Return to the enchanting world of ABIA winner The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, as a team of booksellers must fight to keep dangerous magic under cover before the stuff of legends destroys our world. From master world builder Garth Nix, this riveting fantasy adventure is set in an alternate 1980s London.
''This is the book for anyone who has ever said "I don't read fantasy".' -- Fran Atkinson, Sydney Morning Herald, about The Left-handed Booksellers of London
'There is often trouble of a mythical sort in Bath. The booksellers who police the Old World keep a careful watch there, particularly on the entity who inhabits the ancient hot spring. Yet this time it is not from Sulis Minerva that trouble starts. It comes from the discovery of a sorcerous map, leading left-handed bookseller Merlin into great danger. A desperate rescue is attempted by his sister, the right-handed bookseller Vivien, and their friend, art student Susan Arkshaw, who is still struggling to deal with her own recently discovered magical heritage.
'The map takes the trio to a place separated from this world, maintained by deadly sorcery performed by an Ancient Sovereign and guarded by monstrous living statues of Purbeck marble. But this is only the beginning, as the booksellers investigate centuries of disappearances and deaths and try to unravel the secrets of the murderous Lady of Stone, a serial killer of awesome powers.
'If they do not stop her, she will soon kill again. And this time, her target is not an ordinary mortal.
'A wintry return to the somewhat alternate 1980s England of The Left-Handed Booksellers of London.'(Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Large print.
- Braille.
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
-
Gender and Power : Three New Young Adult Novels
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 459 2023; (p. 32-33)
— Review of Some Shall Break 2023 single work novel ; The Sinister Booksellers of Bath 2023 single work children's fiction ; Nightbirds 2023 single work children's fiction'Three new novels from Allen & Unwin explore gender power relations – with mixed results. In Ellie Marney’s Some Shall Break ($24.99 pb, 382 pp), a young woman helps law enforcement hunt a serial killer who is kidnapping and raping young women. Garth Nix’s latest offers interesting parallels, though The Sinister Booksellers of Bath ($24.99 pb 330 pp) includes plenty of fantasy elements to vary the formula. Meanwhile, Kate J. Armstrong’s Nightbirds ($24.99 pb, 462 pp) follows three different women who are navigating magical, political, and romantic intrigues.' (Introduction)
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Locus Looks at Books : Colleen Mondor
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Locus , May vol. 90 no. 5 2023; (p. 20)
— Review of The Sinister Booksellers of Bath 2023 single work children's fiction
-
Locus Looks at Books : Colleen Mondor
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Locus , May vol. 90 no. 5 2023; (p. 20)
— Review of The Sinister Booksellers of Bath 2023 single work children's fiction -
Gender and Power : Three New Young Adult Novels
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 459 2023; (p. 32-33)
— Review of Some Shall Break 2023 single work novel ; The Sinister Booksellers of Bath 2023 single work children's fiction ; Nightbirds 2023 single work children's fiction'Three new novels from Allen & Unwin explore gender power relations – with mixed results. In Ellie Marney’s Some Shall Break ($24.99 pb, 382 pp), a young woman helps law enforcement hunt a serial killer who is kidnapping and raping young women. Garth Nix’s latest offers interesting parallels, though The Sinister Booksellers of Bath ($24.99 pb 330 pp) includes plenty of fantasy elements to vary the formula. Meanwhile, Kate J. Armstrong’s Nightbirds ($24.99 pb, 462 pp) follows three different women who are navigating magical, political, and romantic intrigues.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2024 finalist Hugo Award — Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
- 2024 CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Notable Book — Older Readers
- 2024 shortlisted Indie Awards — Young Adult
- 2023 finalist Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction — Fantasy Division — Novel
- 2023 longlisted British Science Fiction Association Awards — Novel
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Bath,
Somerset,
cEngland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1980s