Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LSE:BMY) has launched the latest children’s book by Katherine Rundell, an author being heralded as “the heir to CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien”.
With the publisher planning a major publicity campaign, the expected bestseller is called Impossible Creatures and is designed to be the first in a “career-defining” new trilogy in the fantasy genre, one where it says demand has been soaring since the pandemic.
The Times newspaper last weekend picked it as its Children's Book of the Week, with a headline wondering if Rundell is the inheritor to fantasy luminaries Lewis and Tolkien. The Sunday Times says the writer can “rival JK Rowling" and Bookshop.org has highlighted the tome as its children’s book of the month.
Bloomsbury, for which Rowling has been a reliable cash cow for over two decades, reported the book had received the highest ever level of pre-orders for the author’s hardbacks.
With sci-fi and fantasy flying high in the past couple of years, Bloombsbury noted that industry data suggests female authors now dominate the bestseller lists in the category.
Chief executive Nigel Newton said: "As stated in recent trading updates and results announcements, the phenomenal demand for fantasy fiction has helped drive record sales.
“Bloomsbury has a rich tradition in this genre and we have high expectations for Katherine Rundell to continue this trend. We are naturally overjoyed to see such widespread excitement around her latest novel."