HarperCollins Focus launches new Fiction imprint Harper Muse First novel set to release October 2021
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HarperCollins Focus announced today the launch of its new book imprint, Harper Muse. Expanding the publishing company's footprint into general market adult fiction, Harper Muse will be under the direction of vice president and publisher, Amanda Bostic. Based in HarperCollins Focus' Nashville location, the imprint will focus on women's fiction, historical fiction and southern fiction categories with stories that resonate with Millennial and Generation X readers.
"Stories have a profound ability to connect people—especially in the fragmented world we find ourselves in today, and I could not be more thrilled to be launching HarperCollins Focus' first fiction imprint, Harper Muse," said Bostic. "We want Harper Muse to be a place where readers can escape with novels that offer hope and encouragement throughout the day—the kind of stories that continue to run through your mind days after you have put the book down."
The imprint's debut novel is set to release in the fall of 2021 by New York Times bestselling author and beloved novelist, Patti Callahan. Once Upon a Wardrobe, a historical novel set in 1950 will be Callahan's sixteenth published novel.
"The power of story to impact and change us, to connect us to each other and to open our hearts, is not only the inspiration for the new HarperCollins imprint Harper Muse but also for my new novel Once Upon a Wardrobe," said Callahan. "I am endlessly fascinated by the stories that captivate our collective imagination, and I'm delighted that my newest novel, a story inspired by Narnia's ability to captivate and enchant us the world over, will be the debut for this visionary new imprint."
In addition to Callahan, Harper Muse has signed other well-known authors like New York Times bestselling authors Ariel Lawhon (I Was Anastasia, Doubleday Books) and Kristina McMorris (Sold on a Monday, Sourcebooks Landmark), and Susan Meissner (The Last Year of the War, Berkley).
The imprint is set to release three titles in 2021 and seven in 2022. Harper Muse is part of HarperCollins Focus' key objectives to connect with great writers and readers who rely on the global reach and distribution network of HarperCollins Worldwide. For more information and to sign up for the imprint's newsletter, please visit www.harpermuse.com.
About Harper Muse:
Launched in February 2021, Harper Muse is the newest imprint under HarperCollins Focus. With an emphasis on general market adult fiction, Harper Muse is designed for the purpose of illuminating minds and captivating hearts through story—effectively serving as an extension of HarperCollins Focus' mission to connect with great writers and readers. For more information, visit www.harpermuse.com or follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at @harpermusebooks.
About HarperCollins Focus:
HarperCollins Focus, LLC owns and operates a collection of publishing imprints, that enlighten and empower readers to transform their hearts and minds, connecting through story, advice, mentorship and community. The company's mission is to inspire the world with content that equips people to lead lives of significance, integrity and purpose. Current publishing imprints include HarperCollins Leadership, Harper Horizon, and Harper Muse. The company also operates HarperCollins Leadership Essentials, a destination online community dedicated to accelerating personal and professional development. The company is based in Nashville, TN. For more information go to www.harpercollinsfocus.com.
Contact:
Casey Harrell
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
tel: 615.902.1109
web: casey.harrell@harpercollins.com
More about Once Upon a Wardrobe
Harper Muse is the first adult fiction imprint under HarperCollins Focus. With an emphasis on general market historical, Southern, and women’s fiction, Harper Muse is where readers can escape with novels that offer hope and encouragement.
The imprint’s first novels are set to debut Fall 2021, starting with "Once Upon a Wardrobe," from New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan in October. Six additional titles will follow within the first year.
Once Upon A Wardrobe
Coming October 19, 2021
From the New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis comes another tenderly imagined and enchanting story that pulls back the curtain on the early life of C. S. Lewis.
Megs Devonshire is brilliant with numbers and equations, on a scholarship at Oxford with dreams of solving the greatest mysteries of physics.
But equations haven’t been able to solve her biggest problem: her brother George, whom she adores, has a failing heart. It has been failing for all eight years of his life. When George is given a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and begs her to find out where Narnia came from, there’s no way she can refuse.
And so Megs moves completely out of her comfort zone, imploring the author and famous tutor of English Literature to give her the answers her brother so desires. What she receives instead is more stories . . . stories of Jack Lewis’s life, which she takes home to George.
Meg keeps trying to impose her trusty logic on the stories, but she slowly comes to realize that lists never answer the biggest questions. The gift she thought she was giving George turns out to be the one he was giving her: hope.
Links:
About the Author
A New York Times Bestselling Author
Co-creator and co-host of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction
Photo Credit: Bud Johnson Photography
Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of fifteen novels, including the (Historical Fiction), BECOMING MRS. LEWIS—The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis (writing as Patti Callahan). In addition, she is the recipient of The Christy Award—A 2019 Winner "Book of the Year.”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year for 2020, and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for 2019.
The author is also the host of the popular seven-part original "Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series" launched, October 2019. The podcast audiobook collection including bonus material was released in January 2020. The new expanded Becoming Mrs. Lewis paperback edition was released in March 2020.
WILD SWAN, a novella following the fiery life of one of history’s greatest heroines and the mother of modern nursing: Florence Nightingale by Patti Callahan was released December 10, 2020, as an Audible Original performed by Cynthia Erivo.
On March 9, 2021, SURVIVING SAVANNAH —a new historical fiction novel based on the true story of the Steamship Pulaski wreck will be released and available for pre-order now.
REUNION BEACH, Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank, a collaboration and tribute to be released April 27, 2021, and available for pre-order now. Patti joins a group of bestselling authors to present a moving anthology to pay tribute to the legendary NYT bestselling author and her literary legacy.
ONCE UPON A WARDROBE is another tenderly imagined and enchanting story that pulls back the curtain on the early life of C. S. Lewis from Callahan— coming October 19, 2021, and available for pre-order now—published by Harper Collins' new imprint —Harper Muse. Callahan's Once Upon a Wardrobe will be their debut novel launching this fall.
Patti Callahan is the co-creator and co-host of the weekly web show and podcast, FRIENDS AND FICTION featuring the five bestselling authors Mary Kay Andrews, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Kristin Harmel, and Mary Alice Monroe with endless stories, special guests, and a way to connect readers and writers.
A full-time author and mother of three children, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband. Website