From the best-selling author of Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil, a new, hilarious novel in the Household Gramarye universe.

In the storm-drenched city of Verdigris, home to indolent sorcerers and undead hotels, something is dreadfully wrong. Buildings are starting to crumble due to the kidnapping of their hobs, the many-legged house spirits that keep each home in order. In such times, one would ordinarily blame the Devil, but he has been enchanted by a new and enticing evil: The jackbooted villainy of Gwendolyn Gooch, who has taken the hobs for her latest diabolical scheme—apartments for rent. As the hobs retrofit the gaudy Gooch Towers, the fate of the city lies in the hands of the arboreal Professor Green; his rare, complete set of the Household Gramarye; and its famulus, the prim Mrs. Bobkins.

A delightful new novel in a series "perfectly cut to fit the Pratchett-shaped hole in my heart" (C. M. Waggoner), The Devil and Mrs. Gooch is...]]> Sun, 12 Jul 2026 09:36:32 +0300 https://zombies.library.land/oliver-darkshire/644234-once_upon_a_tome.html https://zombies.library.land/oliver-darkshire/644234-once_upon_a_tome.html

'Peculiarly hilarious!' - William Gibson
'Every page is a pleasure' - Lindsey FItzharris
'Utterly charming' - Tom Holland
'Laugh-out-loud' - Garth Nix
'A must read' - Fergus Butler-Gallie
'Brims with self-effacing charm' - Caitlin Doughty
'Unfortunately I have mislaid the book in question' - Neil Gaiman
Welcome to Sotheran's, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, with its weird and wonderful clientele, suspicious cupboards, unlabelled keys, poisoned books and some things that aren't even books, presided over by one deeply eccentric apprentice.
Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd on Sackville Street (est. 1761) to interview for their bookselling apprenticeship, a decision which has bedevilled him ever since.
He'd intended to stay for a year before launching into some less dusty, better remunerated career. Unfortunately for him, the alluring smell of old books and...]]> Mon, 18 Apr 2022 22:51:45 +0300