Manderley Press, London (2025)

19/08/2025

Happy 122nd birthday to Manderley Press author Kathrine Kressmann Taylor 💜

One of my favourite reads of all time is Kathrine’s haunting novella ‘Address Unknown’, written on the eve of the Holocaust and which predicted the full horrors of Na**sm. So when I stumbled across another of her books in the stacks at , I was in amazed and delighted.

Fast forward a year or so and it was a huge honour to publish a new edition of Kathrine’s diary Florence: Ordeal by Water - a firsthand account of the flooding of the River Arno in 1966.

The flooding of Florence also inspired the writer to pen her own novel - Angels of Mud (we have a few signed copies still in stock over at manderleypress.com) - and we were delighted when she wrote us a new introduction to Kathrine’s book.

They also inspired the best-selling novel Still Life:

“Florence: Ordeal by Water was absolutely indispensable during my research for Still Life. Here, finally, was a vivid eye-witness account of the 1966 flood that devastated Florence. Utterly compelling.”
- Sarah Winman

Illustrated by fabulous Tuscan-born artist , it was a treat to bring this forgotten classic back to life.

And so it was a true delight to discover that one of my favourite childhood illustrators also had a story to tell with a link to the book.

Valerie got in touch after reading Ordeal by Water, and has written a tribute to Paul Delrue: master bookbinder at , a dear friend, and a mud angel too.

Her full essay is over on the Stories section of our website, where you can read more about Paul and his legacy. And do head over to say hello to her here on IG too!

How better to remember Kathrine Kressmann Taylor on her birthday.

Did this book rekindle any memories of Florence in the 1960s? I’d love to hear from you if so👇

Rebeka x

09/08/2025

The evolution of a book cover…

“Bath, for Mary, was both a refuge and a place of intense sorrow. Here, amid the society of strangers, she faced the devastating loss of those closest to her, and it was within these elegant streets that her private griefs shaped the darkest corners of her imagination.”
- .miranda

When we commissioned artist to create a bespoke front cover for our book ‘Mary Shelley in Bath’ we knew that the cover would need to be immediately arresting, visually gorgeous and utterly unique. And so it needed to reflect Mary’s creativity and darkness; her elation and her despair.

Eleanor developed a powerful colourway, and used portraits of the author in the , London, as the basis for her own portrait of Mary Shelley, rendered in her trademark medium of play-doh.

But instead of a demure illustration, with Mary’s gaze averted from the viewer, Eleanor lifted her face, eyes engaging directly with the reader, proudly taking her place among literary canon.

First came Mary’s head, then her black silk dress and finally the background of the city of Bath itself, where Mary spent several months as a young woman.

The book in question is a collection of Mary’s journals and letters - as well as the chapter of Frankenstein that she penned during her stay in Bath, and additional short stories inspired by her time living there. It reveals to us the true nature of her closest relationships, the influence of the city’s intellectual circles on her work and the profound impact of Bath’s haunting beauty on her imagination.

Eleanor’s portrait of Mary perfectly captures the author’s passion and her pain, and reclaims for her a place among the other great writers inspired by the historic literary city of Bath.

It was such a pleasure to witness the evolution of this cover, and to watch from the sidelines as Eleanor brought the book, and the author back to life for a brand new 21st-century audience.

Do you know Eleanor’s work? Head over to her account to say hello and find out more about her work. You’re in for a treat!

Rebeka x

05/08/2025

Last night I dreamt I went to Whitby again…

Exciting event news! I am delighted and over the moon to be taking part in the inaugural Whitby Literature Festival later this year.

Whitby Lit Fest was set up to celebrate Whitby’s rich literary heritage; to connect readers with contemporary authors and poets; and to inspire residents and visitors alike.

Many of you will already know that I grew up in Whitby - muse to many wonderful authors new and old (think Bram Stoker, Elizabeth Gaskell, Storm Jameson, Michel Faber and Kate Atkinson), and it was this literary legacy that inspired me to set up Manderley Press.

It is therefore the hugest of honours to be invited to speak at the festival, and to be joined by the writer, broadcaster and academic Dr Katie Cooper (aka ) for a celebration of the author Storm Jameson, who was born and grew up in Whitby, and whose Whitby-inspired novel The Moon is Making we will republish next year.

Please do join us in person on 11th November for what promises to be a fascinating conversation about the author, her Whitby heritage, and our plans to bring one of her most page-turning works back to life!

Tickets can be purchased via the Whitby Lit Fest website (there’s a link in the bio above, or simply head to whitbylitfest.org.uk), where you can also find out more about the 50+ events taking place across the festival.

With a huge thanks to the festival organisers for inviting us to take part, and to the fabulous , for their endless support and encouragement. We can’t wait to get back up north, chat all things bookish ... and then head straight out for fish and chips!

Rebeka x

28/07/2025

Just a quick heads up that is offering 25% off our forthcoming book by .

There’s a link in the bio above - just head on over to receive 25% off the RRP of this title when you enter the code SUMMER25 during checkout between 28th-31st July.

“His books have moved me and so many others to laugh out loud, to cry and to think.”
- , author of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’.

“His books stay with you ... A glorious talent in children’s publishing.”
- , winner of the 2024 and Children’s Laureate, 2022-24

From one of the nation’s most beloved authors and the creator of ‘The Snowman’, comes a brand new edition of two forgotten children’s classics by Raymond Briggs.

Fully illustrated by the author, this book was inspired by Briggs’s childhood adventures in Wimbledon, post-war London.

Two friends Tim and Gerry stumble upon a deserted house, but after they spot a ghostly face behind a boarded-up window, they decide to investigate further…

Introduced by renowned children’s author, Chris Riddell, who was himself taught by Raymond Briggs in the 1980s, and published as a sumptuous gift hardback, we very much hope that this title will entrance and entertain a brand new generation of children.

21/07/2025

Kid’s books for the summer holidays ☀️🏖️📚

With huge thanks to the for including our classic summer read for kids - The House in Cornwall - in this week’s list of recommended books about beaches!

In her introduction to this new edition of Noel Streatfeild’s rediscovered children’s classic, set by the seaside in Cornwall, and written during WW2, the amazing author and critic .mangan said it all:

“Cornwall is not so much a setting as a state of mind … it is shorthand for sun, summer and sand.”

This is the thrilling story of one summer holiday in the life of the four Chandler siblings, who have been sent to stay with a long-lost uncle in Tregon Hall – his grand old house near Truro in Cornwall.

Initial excitement quickly wears thin, as John, Sorrel, Wish and Edward arrive by train, only to discover that Uncle Murdock is unfriendly, the servants are behaving strangely and they are prisoners in their new seaside home.

When they hear the unmistakable sobs of a crying child at night, daring adventures ensue – by land, sea and air...

Whether you’re a big kid or a little kid (!), whether you like reading stories aloud or settled in a comfy hammock, and whether you’re by the sea in Cornwall or armchair travelling in another place altogether, this book is pure escapism. A thrilling vintage page turner from start to finish - perfect summer reading wherever you are in the world.

Thanks again to the book reviewers over at The Week Junior - we hope your readers enjoy the book!

Copies are available to order, with matching bookmarks exclusively for Manderley Press readers, over at mamderleypress.com (link in bio or click on any of the images in the post above).

Rebeka x

20/07/2025

Every single Manderley Press title is introduced by a specially chosen author with links to the place at the heart of the book in question. Maybe they lived there, maybe they wrote there, maybe they were inspired by a building or a story set there…

My challenge, when bringing our third book back to life - Appointment with Venus by Jerrard Tickell (most well known today for his book Odette) - was to find the perfect living writer with a connection to the tiny island of Sark, in the Channel Islands, where this book was written and set back in 1953.

Enter the wonderful , whose debut novel just happened to be set on Sark too.

Sometimes the stars align perfectly!

Rosa’s book, as you’ll see from the reviews below, is unputdownable. And we were so chuffed when she signed these copies for us to include in our bookshop over at manderleypress.com

These exclusive signed editions have been so popular with readers that we had to order in a second consignment. It’s a really honour to have this supporting literature alongside our own titles, and we heartily recommend Rosa’s staggeringly marvellous second book too - Dreamland (coming soon as The Dream Lands to ). We don’t have this title in stock but I urge you to seek a copy asap if you don’t yet know of it.

Anyhow, back to The Last Kings of Sark - a coming-of-age novel which won the legendary international Paris literary prize.

It is at once compelling, dark and funny: a tale of complicated love, only children and missed opportunities.

“This is a stunningly well-written first novel.”
- The Times

“A lithe, shimmering novel … full of sensuality and wit.”
- The Guardian

“She writes like a cross between Françoise Sagan and Nell Dunn: Strange, dreamy but with razor-sharp characterisation”
- Marie Claire

“Both freshly innocent and self-assured – each word seems chosen with extreme care”
- The New Yorker

Thank you Rosa!

15/07/2025

What’s in your beach bag?

This week I have been writing a short piece for who is already creating next year’s edition of the amazing - keep your eyes peeled 👀

Freya had asked me a very important question: Bookmark or corner fold?

In answer to this potentially polarising query, I immediately reached out of the hammock to grab Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, which I’ve brought on holiday with me. I was hoping it had a bookmark inside to use as inspiration.

(I realise I am very late to the party with this particular title and I cannot wait to dive in.)

As I explained to Freya, I do love a bookmark, or even a receipt to mark one’s place in a book. In fact, when I opened my copy of this book, bought a few years ago and only just emerging at the top of the TBR pile, I was instantly and happily reminded by the receipt inside of the wondrous Irish bookshop where I bought it - /
in Louisburgh.

A few years I was cycling along a beautiful country road in county Mayo in Ireland with my husband when we pulled up outside the bookshop of my dreams - lured in by a beautiful bench outside the shop in the shape of an unfurling book. How could I resist?!

On the way home, my bike ran out of battery, so while my husband continued to the hotel and came back to pick me up in the car I sat by some sheep on a grassy outcrop and started this book.

It’s only taken three years to pick up where I left off. Thank goodness for receipts (and bookmarks!).

Anyway that was a very long way of asking what’s in your beach bag? I just finished A Month in the Country by JL Carr (thank you for the perfect recommendation) and was smitten from page one. What shall I read after Demon Copperhead? Leave me a suggestion below and I’ll be sure to follow up!

Rebeka x

04/07/2025

A book is never just a book. Each title has a back story, a history, a place in our shared and lived experience. Even if we don’t yet know it!

Here’s my path to Florence: Ordeal by Water by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor - our recent title set in Florence, Italy - and a perfume to match too….

1) in 1999 I moved to London to study and got a job at
2) while working there, I read Kressmann Taylor’s unputdownable novella Address Unknown. Hooked immediately.
3) fast forward 20 years - I find myself running a publishing company celebrating rediscovered literary gems inspired by buildings and cities.
4) I start working in (to avoid excessive toast-eating at home, and because, you know, it’s the best place on earth and smells of books because it lives and breathes and is built of books). Heaven.
5) While browsing the stacks there one day I find this gem - the diaries chronicling the flooding of the river Arno and the city of Florence in 1966.
6) from there I track down the literary estate of the author, ask the amazing to write an introduction to a new edition, commission one of my favourite illustrators to design a new cover of gorgeousness and discover en route that the best-selling writer Sarah Winman was inspired by the diaries when writing her own novel set in Florence - Still Life.
7) publish said book, with art print to match!
8) discover sometime later that one of my favourite perfumiers has a scent that was inspired by the mud angels who helped saved the Florence and her treasures after the floods. The passion and dedication of these Angeli di Firenze led directly to the publication of Kathrine Kressmann’s diaries - and to this perfume too.
9) buy said perfume and revel in it. I love it. Of course. (By the way this is in no way a paid promotion, I just stumbled across literary and scented serendipity and had to share.)

Find the book and print over at manderleypress.com, and the perfume direct from Santa Maria Novella. There just happens to be a shop close to The London Library…

Rebeka x

30/06/2025

We are delighted that our best-selling book - The House in Cornwall by Noel Streatfeild - has been shortlisted for a Holyer an Gof publishers’ award!

We are honoured to have been shortlisted in the children’s category, alongside two other brilliant Cornwall-based books - The Last Giant of Marazion by , published by the fabulous indie , and The Other Side.

The annual Gorsedh Kernow Holyer an Gof Awards were established in 1996 and are so named in memory of Redruth publisher and Cornish Bard Leonard Truran, whose Bardic name was Holyer an Gof – Follower of The Smith. The scheme was established and is organised by Bards of Gorsedh Kernow to promote books about Cornwall, set in Cornwall or in Cornish (Kernewek).

The award ceremony will take place next weekend at in Redruth, Cornwall, when Grand Bard Jenefer Lowe will present the certificates and cups all the while compered by of .

The House in Cornwall is a brand new edition of Noel Streatfeild’s forgotten children’s classic - an adventure story set on the Cornish coast during WW2.

It’s been a joy to republish this title, for readers young and old. It quickly became one of our bestselling books, and was even chosen by as children’s book of the week in .

First published in 1939, as a serialised magazine story in The Girl’s Own Paper, we have re-issued this wonderful book with an introduction by the equally marvellous journalist and author .mangan, and illustrated by the Cornwall-based artist to absolute perfection

Elly will be representing Manderley Press at the awards ceremony and we can’t wait for her update! In the meantime, best of luck to all the shortlisted publishers, authors and illustrators - what an honour to feature alongside you.

Happy Sunday dear readers (and how I wish I was by the sea in Cornwall rather than sweltering in London Town!),

Rebeka x

26/06/2025

I don’t often lurk in doorways in the middle of the night but when I got home late a few weeks ago - after the party - this photo op happened.

I was enthusiastically recounting to my husband all the amazing conversations I’d had, all the people I’d met, all the speeches I’d heard - it was exhilarating.

And I felt so honoured to have been part of it all and there to celebrate such wonderful writing by women, with so many awe-inspiring women on all sides.

In other words, I could hardly, and still can’t really, believe my good fortune. It was a glorious evening and while I stood in the doorway whispering loudly about it all to my husband he took this photo to capture the moment.

I realise I look a bit like the woman in black or a spectral visitor with a tale of doom. Which I quite like, I hasten to add!

But in fact the brightened background says more about my evening. It was a highlight of my publishing journey - and never in a million years could I have imagined this path when I set up Manderley Press in the midst of a global pandemic when we couldn’t leave the house let alone go to a party.

Thank you to every single one of you for transforming my bookish dreams into reality. I’m so grateful for your orders, your support, your kind messages and wonderful reviews too.

Next year we hope to step up to the next publishing level and I look forward to showing you our new list very soon. There will be six new wonderful Manderley Press titles in 2026.

Sometimes a plan starts with a whisper and then blossoms unexpectedly. And so I hope our newest publications will re-emerge from dusty bookshelves back into the limelight once more! Less gothic-lady-at-night perhaps - think bright and beautiful!

Rebeka x

24/06/2025

Oh the sheer joy of a beautiful new book cover ⚡️

This is the front, spine and back of our forthcoming children’s title, written and fully illustrated by the late great Raymond Briggs (of The Snowman fame).

We wanted to honour and celebrate the artist, and this carefully composed front cover of his for our new edition of The Strange House.

So we used the original book as inspiration, adding a new colourway with a vintage feel to reflect the original era in which the book was composed.

Then we applied some shimmer - inside and out. With a brand new introduction by and delicate foil-blocked bronze detailing on the cover of the book to catch the eye.

This is just the sample cover from the printer, pre-binding, to give an indication of the sparkly text on the front - the pages will be bound and sewn together, secured with head and tail bands and should arrive at our offices over the summer.

But I think you’ll agree, it’s pretty eye-catching! We are delighted and can’t wait to see 3D copies.

As always, pre-orders will be posted out straight away, and a huge thanks to all of you who have already reserved a copy - each advance purchase helps us enormously. It means we can plan ahead for the next six titles with a little more security!

Advance copies can still be reserved over at manderleypress.com (and will be available at the special price of £18.99 until official publication in September, at which point it will be priced £19.99 in line with all good bookshops!).

Watch this space for updates - more book news coming soon!

Rebeka x

Manderley Press

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