Nonesuch: A Novel
Mar 2026 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
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A spellbinding tale about an ambitious young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz—from “one of our most powerful writers of wayward historical fiction” (The Washington Post).
“The novel fairly cackles with glee at its capacity to summon excitement from all corners of time and space.” —The New York Times Book Review
Following the acclaim of Golden Hill and Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford delivers a masterpiece of literary fantasy, hailed by Joe Hill as “a book that scoops up all the wonder and hope and pleasure of the Narnia novels, and pours it into a story for grown-ups.”
It’s the summer of 1939, and the air in London is thick with the tension of impending war. Iris Hawkins, a fiery young financial secretary, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a genius engineer from the new technology of television. What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into a nightmare of otherworldly pursuit—into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes droning overhead. In a time when death falls randomly from above each night, when the streets are darker than the wildest forest and all the men are away in uniform, the defense of the city is in the hands of its women. But Iris has more to contend with than just the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, through the vast night sky and across the tiny screens of early television, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand, and only Iris can stop her altering the course of history forever.
Both a thrilling page-turner and a profound exploration of ambition, love, and the fight against tyranny, Nonesuch is a story that is as enchanting as it is urgent. Packed with twists, tension, and wonder, it is a triumph of storytelling.
“The novel fairly cackles with glee at its capacity to summon excitement from all corners of time and space.” —The New York Times Book Review
Following the acclaim of Golden Hill and Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford delivers a masterpiece of literary fantasy, hailed by Joe Hill as “a book that scoops up all the wonder and hope and pleasure of the Narnia novels, and pours it into a story for grown-ups.”
It’s the summer of 1939, and the air in London is thick with the tension of impending war. Iris Hawkins, a fiery young financial secretary, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a genius engineer from the new technology of television. What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into a nightmare of otherworldly pursuit—into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes droning overhead. In a time when death falls randomly from above each night, when the streets are darker than the wildest forest and all the men are away in uniform, the defense of the city is in the hands of its women. But Iris has more to contend with than just the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, through the vast night sky and across the tiny screens of early television, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand, and only Iris can stop her altering the course of history forever.
Both a thrilling page-turner and a profound exploration of ambition, love, and the fight against tyranny, Nonesuch is a story that is as enchanting as it is urgent. Packed with twists, tension, and wonder, it is a triumph of storytelling.
A spellbinding tale about an ambitious young woman who must thwart an occult plot by time-traveling fascists during the chaos of the London Blitz—from “one of our most powerful writers of wayward historical fiction” (The Washington Post).
“The novel fairly cackles with glee at its capacity to su...
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Ratings and reviews
2 reviews
Monkfish2 Monkfish2
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April 6, 2026
London, 1939. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious secretary, accidentally summons a 7-foot newspaper angel from an office window. The creature, enslaved by a decaying occult Order, has been sent by a vindictive aristocratic fascist after a romantic slight. Iris, her engineer boyfriend, and his chaotic occultist father free it, triggering bigger problems: Raphael, an unnerving archangel, recruits Iris to stop a plot to reach Nonesuch, a place outside time where history can be edited. Access requires a bridge of imprisoned angels hidden in city statues, activated via rooftop rituals under air raids. The would-be editor wants to rewrite history and reality to save lives. The novel juggles romance, finance, magic, and war with alarming competence. Characters feel real, magic feels dangerous. It argues that erasing suffering erases meaning. Then it refuses to end. Also, for a WWII novel, its silence on the Holocaust genocide is loud, deliberate, and not flattering. ❤️ 🇮🇱
TM S
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March 24, 2026
Thoroughly excellent throughout. The writing is so good that, for the first time ever, I used the kindle highlighting feature to highlight favorite passages. This is a book that owes a debt to Tim Powers's brand of cosmic "horror," where people accidentally attract the unwanted attention of vast, other-dimensional beings. I love Powers' books, but the writing here is on another level. Outside of the magical plotline (which is surprisingly kept in the background for a large portion of the book) this is also an intensely personal look at a woman who yearns for the kind of freedom that men have in 1930s England. Iris' character is beautifully written, devoid of the typical genre clichés, and she feels so real to me that I feel like I could open a history book and she would have an entry there. I can't recommend this book enough!
About the author
Francis Spufford began as the author of four highly praised books of nonfiction. His first book, I May Be Some Time, won the Writers Guild Award for Best Nonfiction Book, the Banff Mountain Book Prize, and a Somerset Maugham Award. It was followed by The Child That Books Built, Backroom Boys, and most recently, Unapologetic. But with Red Plenty, he switched to the novel. Golden Hill won multiple literary prizes on both sides of the Atlantic; Light Perpetual was longlisted for the Booker Prize; and Cahokia Jazz was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. In England, he is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society. He teaches writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Francis Spufford began as the author of four highly praised books of nonfiction. His first book, I May Be Some Time, won the Writers Guild Award for Best Nonfiction Book, the Banff Mountain Book Prize, and a Somerset Maugham Award. It was followed by The Child That Books Built, Backroom Boys, and...
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