Mouse Dunne comes back from the First World War after serving as a battlefield nurse, finding she has inherited her uncle’s Thistlemarsh Hall and estate. The place has been neglected and is falling apart; even more depressingly, the will demands that if she doesn’t fix the place up within a month, or if she doesn’t get married in the same period, it will be forfeited to her hated uncle, Anthony Carlyle.
Given this ultimatum, she is forced to seek help from Thornwood, a Faerie she liberates from a statue of Dante in the hall’s grounds. He is happy to use his magical powers to help her restore the hall, but Mouse knows that Faeries have different values from mortals. Faeries cannot always be trusted, and she wonders if she can pay the price of his help.
What transpires is a cagey collaboration with this handsome and cold Faerie who might well have his own secret reasons for aiding Mouse. As Thornwood works his magic on the hall, he finds it’s protected by ancient and powerful forces, which conspire to undo his good works.
Mouse and Thornwood work together to fight the many magical obstacles to beat the deadline. As they do so, they both discover the ghosts of their past, and in the process of battling these forces, they develop an intimate bond.
Corrigan blends Charlotte Brontë-like moody romantic characters with inventive magical systems and worlds to create an enchanting, fast-paced, historical, romantic fantasy.
THISTLEMARSH, published by Del Rey, will be released April 23rd 2026 in all good bookshops.
