THE TILTED PENTAGRAM by Matthew MacDevette, pitched as a fast-paced and absorbing alternative history for lovers of A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, and DIVERGENT, will be the debut title of new South African publisher, Mirari Press.

Mirari CEO Marius du Plessis says: “I’m thrilled to launch Mirari with such a fantastic book. THE TILTED PENTAGRAM is the Press’ vision made manifest: irreverent, layered, cunning, dark and emphatically un-put-downable. I can’t wait for readers to explore this world. THE TILTED PENTAGRAM will blow readers away.” 

Set in a world where Europe is ruled by the Church, THE TILTED PENTAGRAM follows a young woman hunted for witchcraft as she tries to find out the origin of her family’s dark powers.

When second year Dresden University student Nell Blythe is accused of witchcraft, there is more at issue than a legal battle. For one, she’s guilty. Well, not guilty, exactly: she hasn’t the faintest idea about spells and has no idea where her abilities come from. But with her dead mother the most infamous witch in the Holy Roman Empire, fighting back can only end at the stake.

Nell flees and is taken in by a group of heretics agitating for a second Reformation, but they are not the most dangerous company she has to keep. A powerful stranger with abilities like hers offers her a bargain: pieces of her mother’s lost journal in exchange for completing five rituals that will reveal the origin and dark purpose of her powers. Desperate to discover more about the mother she never knew, she agrees.

But as the lessons turn violent and her mother’s writing grows ever more disturbing, she must choose between keeping her hands free of blood and uncovering the secrets her mother died for.

Matthew MacDevette studied in Stellenbosch, Cape Town, and Oxford before settling in the Netherlands with his wife and baby daughter, and two terrible/wonderful cats. He spends most of his time on international development projects that try to make the best use of foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest writing novels that have nothing to do with that. Matthew is drawn to dark stories told with hope and humour, and can often be found trying to convince people to listen to The Offspring and watch Lord of the Rings movie marathons. The novel will also be published in Armenian translation.

The deal was negotiated by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie of The Lennon-Ritchie Agency.

For more information, email info@lennonliterary.com.