Celia Rees
Adult Books Young Adult Books
Celia Rees
leading writer for Young Adults

Celia Rees is a leading writer for Young Adults with an international reputation.

 
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Photo credit: Sue Foll

Photo credit: Sue Foll

Her titles include Witch Child (shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize), Sorceress, (shortlisted for the Whitbread - now Costa - Children's Book Award), Pirates! (shortlisted for W.H.Smith Award), Sovay and Glass Town Wars.

The chance discovery of an old family cookery book has now taken her writing in a new and different direction. In 2012, she began researching and writing her first novel for adults, Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook, published by HarperCollins in July, 2020.

 
“Modern master of historical fiction”
— Amanda Craig, Times

MISS GRAHAM’S COLD WAR COOKBOOK

 

An ordinary woman.
A book of recipes.
The perfect cover for spying…

Sent to Germany in the chaotic aftermath of World War II, Edith Graham is finally getting the chance to do her bit. Having taught at a girls’ school during the conflict, she leaps at the opportunity to escape an ordinary life – but Edith is not everything she seems to be.

Under the guise of her innocent cover story, Edith has been recruited to root out Nazis who are trying to escape prosecution. Secretly, she is sending coding messages back to the UK, hidden inside innocuous recipes sent to a friend – after all, who would expect notes on sauerkraut to contain the clues that would crack a criminal underground network? 

But the closer she gets to the truth, the muddier the line becomes between good and evil. In a dangerous world of shifting loyalties, when the enemy wears the face of a friend, who do you trust?

#ColdWarCookbook

 

UK Edition

23rd July 2020 - HarperCollins, London

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“Celia Rees is a superb writer, and this novel has one of the most irresistible and unique story hooks I’ve ever come across. This book deserves to be huge!”
— Sophie Hannah
“Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook is a perfect summer read; gripping, original, well-drawn and compassionate…”
— Joanne Harris
“One for my ‘keeper-shelf’”
— Elizabeth Chadwick
“You won’t want to put it down. I lived every moment. Highly recommended”
— Carol Drinkwater
 
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 US Edition

7th July 2020, William Morrow, New York

 
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“What Rees does frighteningly well is build up the slow tension in her stories”
— The Guardian
“Rees’s outstanding fiction carries both historical and psychological conviction”
— Books for Keeps
“Well-known for her ability to write gripping stories featuring strong, intelligent female characters”
— The Financial Times

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 YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

HISTORICAL FICTION

 SPECULATIVE FICTION AND FANTASY

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 CONTEMPORARY FICTION & ANTHOLOGIES

 
 

 CELIA’S DIARY

What I’m Reading

The Mirror and the Light - Hilary Mantel 

Absolutely loving it but it’s taking me awhile to read… 

The Power of Now – Ekhart Tolle

Not a book to read from cover to cover but I’m finding Ekhart Tolle’s wisdom and clarity hugely helpful in these strange and uncertain times. 

What I’m Working On

I’m working on two ideas.
One is a Gothic thriller, the other a sequel to Miss Graham’s Cold War Cook Book, following Dori’s story. 

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