The Way Home (preorder)

(preorder—to be published in March 2024)

Dust jacket and interior illustrations by Alyssa Winans

Note: There is a limit of one copy per edition per person/household.

Beloved international treasure Peter S. Beagle returns to the world of his seminal classic, The Last Unicorn, in The Way Home, which collects two closely linked novellas.

The first is Two Hearts, which, after its original publication in 2005, won both the Hugo and the Nebula Awards. In this tale of tragedy and hope, a young girl named Sooz sets out from her home village, which has been beset by a murderous griffin. Sooz’s plan is to find the king and convince him to return with her to fight the beast. Enter two of the most beloved characters from The Last Unicorn, the wise and generous Molly Grue and her companion, Schmendrick, who is the world’s greatest magician, but who wishes to be anything but.

Together, the trio seek out the king, who proves to be another hero from The Last Unicorn, the mighty Lír. What follows is aspirational, heartbreaking, and immensely satisfying.

The longer novella, Sooz, is original to The Way Home. It serves as a sequel to Two Hearts and finds Sooz, now seventeen years of age, undertaking a task Molly Grue set her eight years before. Sooz learns a closely-held family secret, and undertakes a new and dangerous quest in a strange and mysterious land ruled by the mysterious, fey-like Dreamies.

Peter S. Beagle is the recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement. His beloved classic novel, The Last Unicorn, has been adapted for both film and stage and numbers among the finest works of fantasy literature every conceived. The Way Home confirms his place in the constellation of the brightest stars in speculative literature.

Lettered: 26 signed, specially bound copies, housed in a custom traycase

Limited: 400 signed numbered hardcover copies

Both editions will be:

• Oversized, 7 x 10 trim size
• Printed offset in two colors (black and Pantone®) on 70# archival quality paper in Opaque Bright White
• Signed by Peter S. Beagle
• Art by Alyssa Winans
• Duotone chapter head
• Two full-color plates, one for each story
• Full color endsheets
• Smythe-sewn binding
• The title page for each story will be printed letterpress on Mohawk Superfine in two colors

The limited edition will be casebound in cloth, with foil stamping on the spine and front of the book. It includes a full color wraparound dust jacket, with the title embossed.

The lettered edition will be handbound with a custom traycase. The book will be quarter bound in navy leather, with the boards covered in a marbled paper by Jemma Lewis. The dust jacket art will be printed without text as a gatefold inserted after the signature page.