Introducing... Andrew McGahan!

No, that's not a mistake.

Andrew McGahan.

Yes, the Andrew McGahan.

The Miles Franklin-winning Andrew McGahan.

The Miles Franklin-winning Andrew McGahan, famous for such beloved books as Praise, The White Earth and Wonders of A Godless World.

Why, you ask, are we introducing him to you if:

A) clearly everyone knows him already, and

B) he writes books for adults anyway.

Why?

WHY?

Because Andrew has written a book for young people and...

It.

Is.

Awesome.

It is awesome, and we are publishing it.

It is awesome, we are publishing it, and we are so excited we have developed an irritating rhetorical tick of repeating ourselves for emphasis, because did we mention IT IS FREAKING AWESOME.

The Coming of the Whirlpoool

Last of the Ship Kings, Book 1*

It is not drowning your mother fears. What she truly dreads is that if you go to sea then you will come to the attention of the Ship Kings. And that if they discover who you are, they will kill you.

Young Dow Amber is no sailor. But driven by a strange sea-longing he ventures down to a grim fishing village on the shores of the bay known as the Claw. There he finds the people living in dread not only of the mysterious Ship Kings that rule their country, but also of the fury of the ocean itself. And when the Ship Kings sail their tall ships into the Claw, Dow's forbidden longing only grows.

Who are the Ship Kings? Who is the strange and fascinating girl who lives aboard one of their ships? And when the whirlpool rises, will the call of the sea lead Dow to his heart's desire or to certain death?

---------------

There is intrigue and adventure, capture and escape, destiny and desire. Andrew's writing sings with the wind in the rigging and thrums with the rush of water under the bow...

You will love Dow - but not without complication.

You will believe utterly in his world - but you won't be sure you want to live there.

You will taste the salt spray and feel the wind on your cheek.

But above all you will fear the coming of the whirlpool...

What's that you say? You want to see the cover? Well, to be honest, we're not sure if you're ready; we're not sure if you can handle the awesome.

So here is the bottom left corner.

Not enough? You want more? You think you can handle more?

Well...

We'll think about it...

In the meantime, here is Andrew himself, signing proof copies in the House.

The proof copies are very pretty.**

And the real book is going to be a gorgeous little hardback*** with beautiful endpapers, and little illustrations - an all round fabulous object.

You know what, they're going to look so good we might not let them actually leave the warehouse. We might just cancel all those bookshops' orders and go out to Scoresby and roll around in the gorgeousness.

But no, that wouldn't be fair. We must be unselfish. We will generously share The Coming of the Whirlpool with you because it is just too good to keep for ourselves.

And in that spirit...

So, Andrew... although as a favourite son of The Mothership you need no introduction, we're dipping the ensign; we're stringing bunting between the masts; we're hanging all the shields over the side to welcome you to the House of Onion.

* Okay, we lied. Andrew hasn't written just one book for young people - he is writing a FOUR-BOOK series. We wanted to break it to you gently so you didn't expire on the spot. Breathe. Breathe. You'll get through this. One AWESOME book at a time.

** As is Andrew, obviously.

*** Clearly it needed to be a hardback to contain the awesome.