The Secret Market of the Dead is an Italian-inspired gothic historical fantasy about a young woman who finds her power in the nocturnal realm that lurks beneath her town.
LitStackers! Line up for this one. In presale now, Simon & Schuster will release The Secret Market of the Dead by Giovanni De Feo on July 8, 2025. Early word suggests an over-the-top, exciting historical fantasy novel with more than a touch of gothic. While details remain scarce, the publisher’s description and the cover art hint at a reading experience that will linger and haunt long after you turn the last page. Here’s the scoop and early praise on this next must-read. Dip into the book fund for this delight!
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In This Spotlight On The Secret Market of the Dead
About The Secret Market of the Dead
Just beyond the waking edges of Lucerìa, an 18th-century town in the kingdom of Naples, lies the Night: an enigmatic fiefdom governed by seven immortals and fueled by Moira, the power to reshape one’s destiny.
On this porous border separating Day from Night, Oriana spends her time fantasizing about becoming a smith in her father’s forge and eavesdropping on whispered tales of beasts and men who roam the nocturnal realm. But in the Night, these stories come alive, as Oriana saw for herself after she inadvertently trespassed into the Secret Market of the Dead, where vendors hawk Moira to those desperate enough to accept its immeasurably steep price.
Years later, when her father chooses her twin brother to succeed him, Oriana challenges her sibling to a series of trials to determine the forge’s true heir. But as the twins’ fierce competition escalates, with the town and her own family set firmly against her, Oriana realizes that to break free from the stifling confines of Day, she must once again embrace the Night—and, as always, everything comes with a cost.
Praise for The Secret Market of the Dead
[The Secret Market of the Dead is] “An enchanting fable of family, ambition, and dreams both magical and real. A delightful read.”—Claire North, author of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August and Ithaca
“A swirling fever dream of cursed festivals and talking cats, many-eyed cloaks and midnight saints, shapeshifting hammers and impossible fates—The Secret Market of the Dead is a phantasmagoria that will have you teetering on a tightrope between worlds.”—GennaRose Nethercott, author of Thistlefoot and Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart
“Atmospheric, spooky, and thoughtful, The Secret Market of the Dead is both an exciting tale and an original and beautifully wrought coming-of-age story. It was a pure delight to read, and I recommend it highly.”—Delia Sherman, author of Changeling and The Evil Wizard Smallbone
“I loved this book. The Secret Market of the Dead is an enthralling story about folk tales, urban legends, and myths, that in the end became a myth of its own. I couldn’t put it down.”—Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library and Elusive
“Take a wrong turn in Lucerìa, and you may become lost in the Night, an intoxicating realm of fanged fairytale overflowing with poetry and menace. Alas, I am Night’s latest victim…and I don’t even want to be rescued.”—Frances Hardinge, author of Fly by Night and The Forest of a Thousand Eyes
“DeFeo crafts a sumptuous folkloric excursion into the depths of human creativity…The worldbuilding is lush and extraordinary, and a welter of motives and schemes keep the pages flying. It’s a feast for the imagination.”—Publishers Weekly (starred)
About Giovanni De Feo, Author of The Secret Market of the Dead
Giovanni De Feo is a fabulist, novelist, and comic book writer. He previously taught literature at International Baccalaureate schools in England and Holland. Currently, he lives in Bologna, Italy, where he is also a performing storyteller with a repertoire of Italian folktales.
You can connect with Giovanni De Feo on their website, and on Instagram.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781668077368
Pub Date: July 8, 2025
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