A. J. Hartley

A. J. Hartley is a British-born novelist and Shakespeare scholar who writes fantasy, mystery, and fiction for younger readers. Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact, published by Razorbill in 2011, begins a trilogy about an English boy adjusting to life in Atlanta. Darwen discovers that certain mirrors open passages into Silbrica, a hidden world whose creatures and dangers soon reach beyond private adventure. His school friendships and his difficulty fitting into a new city give the fantasy an emotional foundation, while the portal structure allows Hartley to contrast ordinary institutions with an expansive imagined landscape. It marked Hartley’s first book written specifically for children and received a Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance youth book honor in 2012. Hartley’s academic work on Shakespeare and performance sits alongside a varied fiction career that includes thrillers and historical fantasy. The title is most accurately understood as the 2011 Razorbill first volume of the Darwen Arkwright trilogy.