Set in the north of England, hundreds of miles from the new English capital of Windsor,
the trilogy tells the story of sixteen-year old Silver Blackthorn. She is about to take the Reckoning, a coming-of-age test which not only decides her place in society but also determines that Silver is to become an Offering for King Victor. The walls of Windsor Castle have plenty to hide and trapped in a maze of ancient corridors, Silver finds herself at the mercy of the mad King. In this world of suspicion it is difficult to know who to trust and who to fear.
Pan Macmillan Editorial Director Trisha Jackson says,
‘We are delighted to be publishing both of these series from Kerry. Apart from being a talented and brilliant storyteller who is particularly good on character, he is enthusiastic, energetic, extremely hardworking and full of ideas. His knowledge of his market is extremely impressive. Quite simply he’s an inspiration to work with’.
Kerry Wilkinson adds,
'Fantasy is a genre I have grown up reading and I'm thrilled to be given the opportunity by Pan Macmillan to create my own world. The fact they have bought nine books from someone who has not had anything published traditionally before, and who hadn't written a word of fiction 18 months ago, is incredibly humbling.'
Pan Macmillan snapped up Kerry Wilkinson earlier this year when they bought the rights to his six-book DS Jessica Daniel series. The first three in the series, self-published by Kerry, became bestsellers on Kindle in 2011. The fourth Jessica Daniel novel,
Think of the Children, will be published in mass market paperback in February 2013 alongside paperback editions of the first three (
Locked In, Vigilante, and
The Woman in Black) which will also be available as an ebook bindup for Christmas.
Thirty one year old sports journalist, Kerry Wilkinson, who is based in Lancashire was a bestselling self-published ebook author on Amazon last year.
His first book in the DS Jessica Daniel series,
Locked In, was self-published in July 2011 after which it shot up the iTunes and Amazon charts making it the No 1 Amazon Kindle bestseller without any formal advertising support. By Christmas 2011, it had sold 100,000 copies. His second and third novels,
Vigilante and
The Woman in Black, were published in September and November 2011; all three now have sold over 330,000 ebooks.