As an assistant in the UK’s finest occult antiques shop, Sophey Cartwright is used to the bizarre, the dangerous and the ethically controversial. When Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities finds itself under attack from a murky organisation determined to ruin the shop’s reputation, Sophey is confident she can help restore the shop’s fortunes. But Sophey’s mother plans to move the family abroad, Sophey’s best friend Ariel is distracted by a cute girl with a mysterious past and the macabre artefacts crossing the Bezzina’s Emporium threshold point to increasingly horrifying aspects of the antiques trade.
Can Sophey work hard enough to save the shop before she leaves forever? Will there be a shop to save if her efforts aren’t good enough? And why, when she looks in the mirror, is she increasingly certain that her reflection is looking back at her?
The second instalment in the Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities trilogy, Dead Ends is an urban fantasy about grief, friendship and the complexities of delving into history. For fans of Maggie Stiefvater and Discworld. Get book one in the trilogy, Rotting Trees, here.
Note: DRM-free means you can send the file to any e-reader and read from different devices.
E-Book (release 8th October 2027)
- Bookshop.org (affiliate link, DRM-free)
- Smashwords (DRM-free)
- Kobo and Kobo Plus
- Barnes and Noble (pre-order from October 2026)
- Apple Books (pre-order from October 2026)
- Vivlio
- Fable
- Thalia
- Angus & Robertson
- Everand
Wholesale Stockists
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Libraries & Library Apps
If your library’s ebook provider doesn’t list Dead Ends, you can request it!
- Cloud Library
- BorrowBox
- Odilo
- Vivlio Libraries
- Palace Marketplace
- Hoopla
- OverDrive/Libby (pre-order from October 2026)
Paperback & Signed Copies (from October 2027)
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Review & Discuss
Merch
Bezzina’s Emporium merch and goodies are available via my Folksy shop.
Content Warnings
Death, grief, mental and physical illness, parental neglect, religious bigotry, disordered eating, self-harm, blood.
Rotting Trees surprised me, and I immediately recommended it to a few friends who have tween and teen kids where I know they enjoy fantasy.
Lisa via GoodReads
Francesca's Words 