We are very excited to announce that Nina Oram's first YA novel, The Joining, is ready for pre-order! The Carrowkeel series is YA Fantasy trilogy steeped in Irish lore.
The cover art for the whole trilogy will be by Bede Rogerson, who was shortlisted for the BSFA awards this year, for his cover art of The Troutespond Series by Elizabeth Priest. We are very proud to work with so many talented people!
The Joining will be available at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, this August, though the official publication date will be the 13th of August.
If you are coming to Dublin Worldcon, come see us in the dealers' room and get your signed copy - you may even get a chance to meet Nina!
Nina says:
"Looking back, it was almost inevitable that the very first thing I would write would be 'The Joining'. My desire to write comes from my childhood, and so does my love of ancient history, legend and folklore. As a child, I was enthralled by the books of Susan Cooper and Alan Garner, British and Welsh folklore woven into modern tales of dark, sinister adventure. I grew up in a countryside rich in ancient British history; coming to live in the west of Ireland, surrounded by another ancient history, maybe it was natural to write a YA fantasy trilogy, to start with the child within.
'The Joining' began with a visit to local Neolithic stone tombs. Perched on a hill, I walked up the track towards them, gazing at the granite towering high above me, and thought of my childhood walks with my best friend, the two of us making up stories. At the top, I was able to slip inside one of the circular tombs and sit, quiet and alone, in the centre of something man had built five thousand years ago. The very next day, I began to write."