Godless Cosmologies

For fans of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Piranesi - a spellbinding gothic fantasy about a boy lost between two worlds, and the dangerous woman who holds the map to both.

When young Pear is admitted to Kopolka's mental asylum on the very day his mother dies, he expects grief. What he does not expect is Mystery.

Enigmatic, brilliant, and terrifyingly persuasive, Mystery is a fellow patient with a gift for philosophy and a hunger for power. Before Pear understands what has happened, he is bound to her service - tasked with tormenting a school bully, salvaging a shipwreck for a seaside shelter, and navigating the labyrinthine rules of a world that makes no sense.

But there is another world. In the depths of sleep, Pear descends into the Water - a luminous, underwater realm where he becomes a whale, befriended by the wise and erudite Mr Octaveley, an octopus philosopher with a talent for comfort. Down here, nothing is frightening. Down here, everything makes sense.

The two worlds cannot coexist forever.

As Mystery's delusions grow darker and her demands on Pear more dangerous, the line between reality and fantasy begins to shake. Pear must decide: surrender to the beautiful madness around him, or find the courage to fight his way back to himself.

Godless Cosmologies is a haunting, beautifully written debut - lush with dark humour, classical prose, and a cast of unforgettable characters. It is a novel about grief, imagination, and what it costs a quiet soul to survive in a world that refuses to stay still.

Perfect for readers who love:

• Gothic and literary fantasy
• Mental asylum settings with dark humour
• Unreliable narrators and dreamlike fiction
• Richly drawn, eccentric supporting casts
• Classic-feeling prose with a modern sensibility

"Haunting and spellbinding... a must read for anyone looking for a slightly darker, but no less magical, take on classic tales like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan." - Verified Reader

"The prose is absolutely stunning and reads like a classic... Godless Cosmologies had it all!" - Verified Reader

Christy Theodoulou is a British author of literary and gothic fiction. She holds a law degree from Lancaster University and a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford. Godless Cosmologies is her debut novel, published by Hawkwood Books. She lives in London, where she reads, writes, and contemplates the existential, when not prowling charity shops or imagining a life surrounded by many-legged creatures.