A Study in Drowning

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NO. 1 NYT BESTSELLING NOVEL, FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN

A love letter to stories - and to everyone silenced or forgotten in their retelling. Allison Saft, author of A Far Wilder Magic

Effy has always believed in fairy tales. Shes had no choice. Since childhood, shes been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. Shes found solace only in the pages of Angharad - a beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him.

Effys tattered copy is all thats keeping her afloat through her stifling first term her prestigious architecture college. So when the late authors family announces a contest to design his house, Effy fells certain this is her destiny.

But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isnt the only one whos made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddins papers and is determined to prove her favourite author is a fraud.

As the two rival students investigate the reclusive authors legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the houses foundation isnt the only thing that cant be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Sunday Times bestseller, September 2023
New York Times bestseller, November 2023