We are delighted to announce that Sonia Velton’s new gothic historical novel has sold at auction, with publication set for May 2024!

Clare Smith at Abacus bought UK and Commonwealth rights at auction in The Nightingale’s Castle from Juliet Mushens. Millicent Bennett and Amy Baker at HarperPerennial acquired North American rights from Jenny Bent at auction, on behalf of Juliet Mushens. Hungarian rights were pre-empted followed by the sale of Slovak rights with more international deals expected during the fair.

Smith said: ‘I was drawn immediately into the world Sonia creates so skilfully, and so beautifully – her writing has the most gorgeous, sensuous quality, while the characterisation held me compelled along with the skilful plotting. I’m thrilled Abacus will be publishing The Nightingale’s Castleas a lead title in May 2024.’

Sonia Velton says: “I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Clare and the Abacus team, alongside HarperPerennial in the US, to share a fresh perspective on Báthory’s story, and incredibly grateful to Juliet and Jenny for finding the book two such perfect homes.”

Juliet Mushens said: ‘‘I was swept up in Sonia’s beautifully evocative historical novel – if you love feminist retellings of myths, I feel strongly that this examination of the truth about an infamous 16th century ‘murderess’ will be just as captivating.’

About The Nightingale’s Castle:

In 1573, Countess Erzsébet Báthory gave birth to an illegitimate child. The infant, a girl, was swiftly bundled up and handed to a local peasant family to be brought up in one of the hamlets surrounding the Castle. Many years later, 15-year-old Boróka reluctantly leaves the safety of the only home she has ever known in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The Countess has sent out trusted members of the household to gather new serving girls and the kindly old man who has taken care of Boróka for almost all her life knows that it is too dangerous to turn them away.

Boróka struggles to find her place at Čachtice Castle: she is frightened of the Countess’s reputation as an alleged murderer of young girls, and the women who run the castle are terrifyingly cruel. When plague comes into the heart of the castle, a tentative bond begins to form between Boróka and the Countess Báthory. But powerful forces are moving against the Countess whose wealth poses such a threat to the King: can the Countess really trust the women who are so close to her? And how will Boróka survive when she becomes caught up in events that are beyond her control?

Erzsébet Báthory, whose infamous place in history characterises her as the ‘Blood Countess’, is rumoured to have murdered 600 peasant girls in Hungary in the late 1500s. The Nightingale’s Castle tells the story of an intelligent and capable woman fighting against influential men to hold onto her wealth and independence.

Sonia Velton, a former lawyer, is the author of two other books. Her historical debut, Blackberry and Wild Rose, was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, long-listed for the HWA Debut Crown and has been optioned for film.