Tor UK acquires Talia Hibbert's spicy romantasy in heated fifteen-publisher auction
Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, is thrilled to announce the acquisition of The Last Thorn by Talia Hibbert from Courtney Miller-Callihan at the Handspun Literary Agency. After a spirited fifteen-publisher global auction, Publisher Bella Pagan acquired UK and Commonwealth rights. These were acquired as part of a joint World English acquisition with Executive Editor Vicki Lame (Saturday Books/St. Martin’s Press Publishing Group, US), who acquired North American rights.
Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, is thrilled to announce the acquisition of The Last Thorn by Talia Hibbert from Courtney Miller-Callihan at the Handspun Literary Agency. After a spirited fifteen-publisher global auction, Publisher Bella Pagan acquired UK and Commonwealth rights. These were acquired as part of a joint World English acquisition with Executive Editor Vicki Lame (Saturday Books/St. Martin’s Press Publishing Group, US), who acquired North American rights.
The Last Thorn is New York Times bestseller Talia Hibbert’s debut fantasy novel. Hibbert is best known for her romance writing, including Get a Life, Chloe Brown. But The Last Thorn is pitched as a spicy magical Beauty and the Beast retelling. It’s set in Albion, an alternative modern-day Britain, which is recovering from a turbulent civil war. And it’s home to a secret society of magic-users. We follow a hero after the war is won, and hope a flawed heroine can save them both from their darkness within. Featuring a diverse cast of characters, a cursed hero must form a soul bond with his enemy's exiled daughter – or lose himself entirely to the monster he hides inside.
Talia Hibbert comments: ‘Creative burnout almost destroyed my love of writing. Then The Last Thorn came to me in a storm of thrilling, high-stakes fantasy and intense enemies-to-lovers romance. This book means the world to me and I am so grateful to have found its perfect home with Bella, Vicki, and their respective teams.’
Bella Pagan comments: ‘I adored this compelling, character-driven fantasy, and the stunning on-page chemistry between Serenia and Casimir! It’s also really exciting to see a neurodivergent main character in Serenia. Talia is a genius when it comes to crafting relatable, nuanced neurodivergent voices and her stories and readers’ worlds are all the richer for it.’
Talia Hibbert is an award-winning, New York Times and internationally bestselling author known for her spicy and inclusive romance novels. Since self-publishing her first novella in 2017 at 21 years of age, Talia has written more than fifteen books, several of which have been optioned for TV and film. Based in Nottingham, England, Talia writes flawed and diverse characters who make readers all over the world feel seen. (www.taliahibbert.com)
Tor UK plans to publish The Last Thorn in Summer 2026 to match publication by Saturday Books – a new St Martin’s Press imprint.
About Tor UK
Tor UK specializes in speculative fiction and is a destination for the best in imaginative storytelling. A sister company to Tor Books in the US, Tor UK publishes an impressive array of award-winners, bestsellers, household names and talented debut authors. Tor’s mission is to publish out-of-this-world genre fiction and bring readers books that spark joy. It strives every year to increase the diversity of its list, publishing authors from minority backgrounds and increasing positive representation of gender issues through fiction. (www.panmacmillan.com/tor)
About Pan Macmillan
Pan Macmillan is an international consumer book publisher based in the UK, publishing a very broad range of books in all formats, including print, ebook and audio, for today’s readers. Its adult book imprints include Bluebird, Macmillan, Macmillan Business, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Collector’s Library, Mantle, One Boat, Pan, Picador and Tor. Children’s Book imprints include Macmillan Children’s Books, Campbell, Kingfisher and Two Hoots. (www.panmacmillan.com)
Pan Macmillan is part of Macmillan Publishers International Ltd (MPIL), a division of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group (www.holtzbrinck.com), a large family-owned media company based in Stuttgart.