Synopsis

In a slightly alternate London in 1983, Susan Arkshaw is looking for her father, a man she has never met. Crime boss Frank Thringley might be able to help her, but Susan doesn’t get time to ask Frank any questions before he is turned to dust by the prick of a silver hatpin in the hands of the outrageously attractive Merlin.

Merlin is a young left-handed bookseller (one of the fighting ones). With the right-handed booksellers (the intellectual ones), he belongs to an extended family of magical beings who police the mythic and legendary Old World when it intrudes on the modern world, in addition to running several bookshops.

Susan’s search for her father begins with her mother’s possibly misremembered or misspelled surnames, a reading-room ticket, and a silver cigarette case engraved with something that might be a coat of arms.

Merlin has a quest of his own: to find the Old World entity who used ordinary criminals to kill his mother. As he and his sister, a right-handed bookseller named Vivien, tread in the path of a botched or covered-up police investigation from years past, they find their quest strangely overlaps with Susan’s. Who or what was her father? Susan, Merlin, and Vivien must find out, as the Old World erupts dangerously into the New.

Thoughts

Garth Nix has been one of my favourite authors since I was a little girl. My dad bought me a copy of Sabriel, and then pretty much every birthday/Christmas after that I asked for one of his books. Shade’s Children is one of my all time favourites, and I just fell in love with his newest release Angel Mage. When he announced this new title I almost squealed with excitement because not only is it a new Garth Nix book, but it sounds incredible. The title really drew me in and I love the blend of fantasy and historical fiction. Nix always creates these really imaginative worlds and I have no doubt that this one is going to suck me in just like all the others. I cannot wait to get my hands on this book, and I patiently praying that it might end up on Netgalley sometime soon. If like me you’re desperate to get your hands on this, you don’t have too much longer to wait – The Left-Handed Booksellers of London is publishing September 22nd from Katherine Tegen Books.