Helen MacDonald & Sin Blanche

Described by Neil Gaiman as 'present-day science fiction that feels like the best sort of spy novel', Prophet is the brain-child of award-winning poet and naturalist, Helen MacDonald, and author and musician, Sin Blanche. Joining forces to create this breath-taking and genre-blending Sci-Fi Thriller, Helen & Sin will join us in the Bookshop to tell us all about how it came to be.

Prophet

YOUR HAPPIEST MEMORY IS THEIR DEADLIEST WEAPON.

This is Prophet. It knows when you were happiest. It gives life to your fondest memories and uses them to destroy you. But who has created it? And what do they want?

An all-American diner appears overnight in a remote British field. It's brightly lit, warm and inviting but it has no power, no water, no connection to the real world. It's like a memory made flesh - a nostalgic flight of fancy. More and more objects materialise: toys, fairground rides, pets and other treasured mementos of the past.

And the deaths quickly follow. Something is bringing these memories to life, then stifling innocent people with their own joy. This is a weapon like no other. But nobody knows who created it, or why.

Sunil Rao seems a surprising choice of investigator. Chaotic and unpredictable, the former agent is the antithesis of his partner Colonel Adam Rubenstein, the model of a military man. But Sunil has the unique ability to distinguish truth from lies: in objects, words and people, in the past and in real time. And Adam is the only one who truly knows him, after a troubled past together. Now, as they battle this strange new reality, they are drawn closer than ever to defend what they both hold most dear.

For Prophet can weaponise the past. But only love will protect the future.

About Helen MacDonald & Sin Blanche

Helen Macdonald is a writer, poet, naturalist and historian of science. Their books include H is for Hawk, which won many prizes including the Costa Book of the Year and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, and the Sunday Times best-selling Vesper Flights. They live in Suffolk with their two parrots.

Sin Blache is an author and musician. They have been writing horror and sci-fi stories all their life. Born in California, they live in the Northwest of Ireland and can be found obsessing over obscure folk instruments, being an ambivalent saviour to feral cats, and playing too many video games.