Once a Queen
A Novel
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Paperback
$12.99
Jan 30, 2024 | 384 Pages
ISBN: 9780593194454
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Ebook
$8.99
Jan 30, 2024 | 400 Pages
ISBN: 9780593194461
About Once a Queen
A mysterious manor house hides the keys to shocking family secrets—and rapidly fading portals to other worlds—in the richly woven opener to bestselling author Sarah Arthur’s young adult fantasy series.
“A fresh, delightful new tale for our wonder-hungry era.”—National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins
When fourteen-year-old American Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, she soon discovers that her family, the manor staff, and even the house itself are hiding secrets.
With odd things happening in the gardens at night, Eva embarks on a search for answers. Astonishingly, she learns that the Hall’s staff believe portals to other worlds exist—though hidden and steadily disappearing—and that Eva’s grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds. But her grandmother’s heart is closed to the beauty and pain of the past. Now it’s up to Eva to discover what really happened—and to decide if it’s possible that her favorite childhood fairy tales are true. As she starts unraveling the dangerous secrets around the grandmother who is more than she appears, Eva begins to wonder if she, too, is more than she understood herself to be.
“A fresh, delightful new tale for our wonder-hungry era.”—National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins
When fourteen-year-old American Eva Joyce unexpectedly finds herself spending the summer at the mysterious manor house of the English grandmother she’s never met, she soon discovers that her family, the manor staff, and even the house itself are hiding secrets.
With odd things happening in the gardens at night, Eva embarks on a search for answers. Astonishingly, she learns that the Hall’s staff believe portals to other worlds exist—though hidden and steadily disappearing—and that Eva’s grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds. But her grandmother’s heart is closed to the beauty and pain of the past. Now it’s up to Eva to discover what really happened—and to decide if it’s possible that her favorite childhood fairy tales are true. As she starts unraveling the dangerous secrets around the grandmother who is more than she appears, Eva begins to wonder if she, too, is more than she understood herself to be.
Praise
“A fresh, delightful new tale for our wonder-hungry era . . . a story that lingers in the memory and shapes the soul long after reading the last page.”—National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins
About Sarah Arthur
Sarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker and the author of a dozen books for teens and adults, including the bestselling Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey through The Lord of the Rings and the Carrick Hall series. After 25-plus years working with youth she plays a wicked game of Four Square—but don’t ever ask her to eat cold pizza from a box, ever. Among other nerdy adventures, she has served as preliminary fiction judge for the CT Book Awards, was a founding board member of the annual C. S. Lewis Festival in Northern Michigan, and codirects the Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats.Product Details
384 pages | Published by WaterBrook
On Sale Date: Jan 30, 2024
Trim Size: 5-1/2 x 8-1/4
Carton Quantity: 24
Sneak Peek
Start reading today!
In a mysterious English manor with a garden full of strange topiaries, teenage Eva is irresistibly drawn to a mystery. For Eva’s grandmother may be more than she appears. And Eva, too, is more than she understood herself to be. The long-awaited fantasy novel from bestselling author Sarah Arthur.Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contact: Elizabeth Groening, Publicity & Marketing Assistant, egroening@penguinrandomhouse.com
Once a Queen
By Sarah Arthur
A WaterBrook YA Fantasy Novel | January 30, 2024
Bestselling Nonfiction Author’s Fantasy Debut Kicks Off WaterBrook’s New YA Trilogy — With Nods to Classic Fairytales, Doses of Cozy Magic, and Masterful World Weaving
Nearly a decade ago, during National Novel Writing Month, bestselling nonfiction author Sarah Arthur let her imagination run free when she began writing Once a Queen, a novel that had been living in her imagination since the early 2000s. On January 30, 2024, her sparkling YA fantasy will be published by WaterBrook, PRH’s faith-based imprint behind the Wingfeather Saga, the bestselling middle grade series which has sold more than one million copies.
Arthur’s first venture into the world of fantasy makes sense, as her extensive knowledge of Lord of the Rings and active involvement in the C.S. Lewis Festival and Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats can be felt with the flip of every page — the story is richly woven, atmospheric, and captures the cozy magic akin to classics like The Secret Garden, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Wrinkle in Time, while also telling a fresh and delightful world-weaving tale for wonder-hungry young minds.
Readers are transported to the English countryside alongside Eva, the American teenage protagonist who secretly wishes fairy tales were true. Nevertheless, while spending the summer at her grandmother’s mysterious English manor, unusual happenings in the gardens at night lead Eva to wonder if portals to alternate universes exist…and if her grandmother was once a queen in one of those worlds.
Arthur was working through grief while writing this novel, and she hopes the intricate themes of generational wounds, redemption, and imagination will ease the young minds that pick up Once a Queen.
For more information, visit onceaqueen.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Arthur is a fun-loving speaker and the author of a dozen books for teens and adults, including Once a Queen and the bestselling Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through The Lord of the Rings. Among other nerdy adventures, she has served as preliminary fiction judge for Christianity Today’s Book Awards, was a founding board member of the annual C. S. Lewis Festival in northern Michigan, and co-directs the Madeleine L’Engle Writing Retreats.
Twitter: @holydreaming
Goodreads: @saraharthur
Instagram: @holydreaming
Facebook: @saraharthurwriter
PRAISE FOR ONCE A QUEEN
“Once a Queen is reminiscent of beautiful books of magic written in the past, but it’s also a fresh, delightful new tale for our wonder-hungry era. With a rich sense of place, vivid characters, a page-turning plot, and a redemptive theme about the healing of generational wounds, Sarah Arthur has created a story that lingers in the memory and shapes the soul long after reading the last page.”—Mitali Perkins, National Book Award nominee and author of You Bring the Distant Near, Rickshaw Girl, and Holy Night and Little Star
“Readers of Lewis and L’Engle, prepare to be enchanted. This is a captivating novel that will make you want to revisit the fantasy stories of your childhood.”
—Sarah Mackenzie, author of The Read-Aloud Family
“I discovered some of my favorite books when I was young and my family lived in a farmhouse—I would read long into the night under my blankets, flashlight in hand. Well, as soon as I started reading Sarah Arthur’s book Once a Queen, I felt like that little kid again and I simply didn’t want to stop reading. The detailed setting, the memorable characters, the mysterious storyline—everything comes together to create a generational book.”
—Shawn Smucker, author of The Day the Angels Fell
ONCE A QUEEN By Sarah Arthur
Young Adult Fiction - Fantasy - Epic | Fairy Tales & Folklore | Family - Multigenerational
A WaterBrook Trade Paperback | On Sale 1/30/24
ISBN: 9780593194454 | eBook ISBN: 9780593194461
For review copy & interview requests, contact Elizabeth Groening @ egroening@penguinrandomhouse.com.
