The reaction - Helena Coggan

'The next JK Rowling' (Today Programme, USA)

'Possibly the best out of the 17 books I've read this year! *****' - Reader Review

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Fifteen-year-old Rose Elmsworth is alone.

For the first time in her life. Her father, David, has been imprisoned and disgraced, a death sentence almost certain. She has been rejected by the Department, the amoral law-enforcement agency in which she grew up. Most dangerous of all is the terrible secret she and her father have been keeping all her life: if exposed, it has the power to destroy her. But Rose cannot stay hidden forever.

Around her, the world is changing faster than either she or the Department can stop it. The laws which have for years maintained peace between magicals and non-magicals are breaking down, and two rival militias are gathering on the streets to prepare for a devastating war. As deeper, darker elements of her father's past emerge, Rose begins to understand that the rules of good and evil in which she has always believed will not protect her anymore.

In a world of monsters, how long can trust, loyalty and justice survive? And how much will Rose herself have to change to stay alive?

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PRAISE FOR HELENA COGGAN AND THE CATALYST

'A phenomenal achievement . . . assured, frightening, action-packed' - Observer

'A pulsing, labyrinthine, emotionally visceral plot' - Metro

'The Catalyst is a complicated, rich world of magic and danger . . . Both fantastical and startlingly relevant and contemporary, it's tense, exciting, engaging and has at its heart a central character whose incredibly personal story becomes caught up in huge battles and some even bigger ideas.' - Claire North, author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August