Devilskein and Dearlove

Just as Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book reworked Kipling's The Jungle Book for a modern audience with a liking for the supernatural, Devilskein & Dearlove is a darker, more edgy, contemporary reworking of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden. An orphaned teenager is taken in by a reluctant distant relative, and in her new home makes an unexpected friend and finds a secret realm. It has shades of the quirky fantastical in the style of Miyazaki's (Studio Ghibli) animated films like Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle (originally a novel by Diana Wynne Jones). Alex says 'As a child The Secret Garden was one of my first favourite novels - one of the first I relished reading by myself. Although Devilskein & Dearlove is very different, it was inspired by that novel and its themes.' 'Alex Smith's quirky imagination knows no bounds.' - André Brink

Alex Smith was brought up in South Africa and until recently lived in Cape Town with her partner, their book-eating baby boy and their two dogs. She is now resident in Ireland. She has had four novels published in South Africa (Random House/Umuzi Imprint), was shortlisted for the 2010 Caine Prize and won the 2011Nielsens Bookseller's Choice Award. She has been published before by Arachne Press, in Weird Lies