Erin Morgenstern's New Novel 'The Starless Sea' to Be Released Next Year

US author Erin Morgenstern shot to fame in 2011 with the release of her debut novel The Night Circus. If you enjoyed her first magical outing then you’ll be pleased to learn that it’s been announced that she’s currently working on a second novel that’s set to be released next year.

As The Book Seller reports, a new magical love story from Morgenstern is currently being written and will be published on November 5, 2019 by Harvill Secker. Called The Starless Sea, the novel takes place in a secret world that’s full of magic and intrigue. Publishing director at Harvill Secker, Liz Foley, described the book as “exhilarating and glorious”. She went on to state that “nothing else like it will be published next year”.

The Starless Sea tells the story of a Vermont graduate named Zachary who discovers a mysterious book in a library. The book contains Zachary’s own childhood and pro,p[ts him to uncover a secret underground library hidden far beneath the earth. This realm is described as a place of “lost cities and seas, lovers who pass notes under doors and across time, and of stories whispered by the dead”. Zachary meets those who have given everything to protect the library and soon becomes aware there are those who would see it destroyed.

The blurb reads: “Together with Mirabel, a fierce, pink-haired protector of the place, and Dorian, a handsome barefoot man with shifting alliances, Zachary travels the twisting tunnels, darkened stairwells, crowded ballrooms, and sweetly-soaked shores of this magical world, discovering his purpose – in both the mysterious book and in his own life.”

Speaking about her new book, Morgenstern said: “When I started working on my new novel, I thought I was writing a book about books but as it turns out I was writing a book about stories. Stories and choices and change and also time and fate and video games. It took quite a while to get it all to fit in a single book, even down to the bees.”

Foley added: “I could not let go of Zachary’s story until the very last, intensely moving, page and so many scenes and characters are vividly imprinted in my memory. Erin’s imaginative powers are unparalleled and this is a truly immersive, epic book about storytelling itself. After the wonder of The Night Circus, it’s incredible to have a novel that even exceeds that one in its flair, richness and ingenuity.”

Morgenstern’s first novel, The Night Circus has sold over 3 million copies since its publication. It has been translated into 37 different languages and was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Galaxy Book Awards. A film adaptation of the novel is currently in the works as well as a stage play.