Mantle

Meet the team

Maria Rejt
Publisher
Hello. I’m Maria Rejt, Publisher of Mantle, an imprint of Pan Macmillan that was launched in 2010. My passion is for great writing and storytelling where the characters always take centre stage, and I especially love novels about ‘the outsider’. Authors I publish include The Sunday Times bestselling Natalie Haynes, Kate Morton, Kate Mosse, CJ Sansom, Andrea Camilleri and Laura Shepherd-Robinson, and prize-winners Charlotte Mendelson and Ray Celestin. I am especially proud that Percival Everett, the Booker-Shortlisted author of The Trees, has joined the Mantle list with his extraordinary and brilliant new novel, James.

The past fascinates me as a way to make sense of where the tides of history have brought us, and great historical fiction can move and inspire us like no other.

I have also always loved publishing crime fiction that brings something new to the genre and contemporary novels with an edge.

Novels in translation where a sense of place is important and novels about the power of reading are also perfect for the Mantle imprint.

I never forget that reading is one of the greatest pleasures we can enjoy and share.
Madeleine O'Shea
Publishing Director
I joined Mantle in 2023 from Head of Zeus, where I published writers including Min Jin Lee, Elodie Harper and Mona Awad. As I build my list here, I'm looking for books that transport me - whether back (or forwards) in time, across geographical boundaries or into a culture or tradition otherwise unknown to me. I like novelists who open up worlds and ideas through their characters and who aren't afraid to play with genre. If there's someone in the story I want to follow, I'm happy. If a book makes me both laugh and cry, I'm really happy. I love big, intergenerational family stories, atmospheric thrillers, books that centre female experiences and novelists that embrace powerful storytelling.

Books I have read and loved recently include In Memorium by Alice Winn, Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Old and treasured favourites include The Cazalet Chronicles, The Secret History,We Have Always Lived in the Castle, A Fine Balance and The Talented Mr Ripley.
Kinza Azira
Commissioning Editor
Reading for me is all about escapism; but my favourite books are those that, whilst taking us someplace wholly different, make us love our own funny world just that little bit more.

As Commissioning Editor across the fiction lists, I have started to build my own diverse list of exciting commercial fiction. I'm proud to have acquired and be publishing the brilliant B. K. Borison, Simone Soltani, Cameron Capello, Salma Ibrahim and Ally Carter and also have had the wonderful pleasure of working on novels from some of our most-loved authors, including Araminta Hall, Percival Everett and Charlotte Mendelson.

In terms of what I have an eye out for - I tend to love compelling women's fiction, even more so with a speculative twist, stories that bring magic to the mundane and heart-wrenching romances that aren't afraid to play about with popular tropes. Whether it be visceral and poignant writing that asks big questions or strong and passionate characters that make life seem a little more achievable - nothing beats a transporting book that's effects linger well after being sent back to reality.
Michael Davies
Editorial Assistant
I support Maria Rejt and Madeleine O’Shea across the Mantle list, working on bestselling and prize-winning authors that include Kate Mosse, Charlotte Mendelson and Percival Everett.

I read fiction to better understand the world around us: now and in the past. My favourite writers are writers of style that can interpret the world anew and articulate it accordingly. As a sample of my taste, I have enjoyed recent works by the likes of Sebastian Barry, Benjamin Myers and Claire Keegan, and I am constantly drawn to old favourites, none more so than John le Carré.