The Grimmelings

The same evening Josh Underhill went missing, the black horse appeared on the hill above the house. Ella knows that words are powerful. So she should have known better than to utter a wish and a curse on the same day. Who is Gus, the boy with the impish grin, who seems to appear in answer to her wish? And what does the black horse want? When Ella finds that her grandmother's warnings of creatures that dwell in the lake are more than just stories, she and her pony Magpie are drawn into a dangerous, life-saving mission.

A compelling, lovingly-crafted novel about magic, liminal spaces (of several kinds), language and folkloric fusion. Rachel King’s characters live and breathe. Her dialogue glitters quietly. She discovers new perspectives in inherited narratives to create a world that is familiar yet unexpected, tense and eery with flashes of beauty.

Rachael King is a writer, reviewer, former literary festival director and ex-bass player from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She is the author of two novels for children: Red Rocks, which won the Esther Glen Medal in 2013, and The Grimmelings, which is due for publication in 2024. Her novels for adults, The Sound of Butterflies and Magpie Hall, were together published in nine different languages. Red Rocks is currently in development for television by Libertine Pictures (Mystic) and Sky TV.Rachael was the programme director of the WORD Christchurch Festival for eight years until the end of 2021. In 2023 Rachael was named Best Reviewer at the Voyager New Zealand Media Awards. She lives in Otautahi, Christchurch.